Sparks Ignite
by LadyVixenWrites
Summary: post AoU au; pietro x oc & clintasha as parents !daughterfic ; Anastasia Natalya Barton is the daughter of Clint Barton and the adopted daughter of Natasha Romanoff. Pietro Maximoff and Wanda Maximoff are staying with Clint and Natasha at the Barton farmhouse when Ana returns from college for holiday break early with some very problematic issues in her life. Will Pietro help her?
1. Home

NOTES:

Okay, so... This is my **first ever fanfiction** on here. It's also posted on my Tumblr account. Sorry for the newbie - ness hopefully it's not too cringeworthy. I should probably warn you guys about a few things before I get into the story, right? Okay, here goes:

 **Cast** : Avengers, Pietro Maximoff, Original Character...

 **Pairings** : Clintasha (or BlackHawk as I prefer to call them) Pietro x Original Character

 **Warnings** : !MommyWidow

Hints / mentions of a previous bad relationship with two original characters, one being the one paired with Pietro by the end. (Mostly it's just possessiveness and an unwillingness to let OC go, occasional bursts of anger that aren't really physical but still scare OC.) I put this here so people who might be triggered/put off and offended by that will know that it'll be in the story.

post AoU AU... Because Pietro walked it off, damn it. And Clintasha is a thing here. There is no Laura x Clint. Clintasha made so much more sense to me. Laura is Clint's sister and the kids are hers. OC is the adopted daughter of Natasha Romanoff and the actual daughter of Clint Barton and a deceased OC.

Other OOC warnings possible, like I said, this is my first full fledged fanfiction, I'm still learning. Eventual sexy time with Pietro x OC.

Swearing... Probably going to be an assload of swearing.

I use song lyrics throughout it.

And that's all, folks! Hope to hell you guys enjoy this! So far I've liked writing it... This is the only chapter I have written though so that could change. Go easy on me, please?

* * *

You won't ever be alone,

 _ **Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet**_  
wait for me to come home

ONE:

"Mom! Daddy! Aunt L? Anyone?" Anastasia Barton called out from the hallway of the farmhouse as she slid off her favorite navy blue pea coat and unwrapped her bright red scarf from around her neck, hanging both things up… She sighed and tried calling their names again. This time, footsteps raced down the stairs and her cousins all clung to her legs.

"Ana!"

"Ana! You gotta come upstairs and play with us! We got a new babysitter and he is awesome!"

Nathaniel climbed up her legs and into her arms. Anastasia giggled and nuzzled her nose against his forehead, breathing in the scent of toddler, smiling. "A!"

"Yeah, little man. A is home for a while." Anastasia mumbled quietly. Her cousin Lila hugged her legs and asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, sweetie. So let's go up and meet this new babysitter of yours, huh?"

"Cooper! Lila! You two better not be outside again. Your mother will be pissed if " a very deep and thickly accented male voice called down the stairs. Pietro's sentence fell away as he saw the slip of a curvy blonde standing in the hallway of the Barton's farmhouse. His eyes roamed over her slowly, curiously. His danger alerts were going into overdrive and his first instinct was to run down and grab the three Barton children and take them back upstairs and call Clint and Natasha to find out if they knew the blonde standing at the foot of the stairs.

 _'She's kind of beautiful. Like an angel or something.'_ he thought to himself absent mindedly. He shook his head and cleared his mind. If this was a Hydra planned attack, naturally they'd send an angelic and harmless looking girl in to do the devils work.

Anastasia gave a wave as her teeth grazed her lower lip. "Is _he_ the babysitter, Lil?" she asked, a little too confused as to why in the hell her aunt Laura (and her father and adoptive mother) was letting Hydra ops in to watch the kids now. Did her aunt not realize what Pietro had caused not even a few months prior? She had to have, her mother and her aunt talked all the time. Pietro was one of the bad guys… What the hell was he _doing there_?

"He's not bad anymore, A." Cooper explained quietly. Anastasia still wasn't entirely convinced so she eyed Pietro Maximoff warily as he walked down the stairs towards her. Lila groaned inwardly, she'd seen the subtle stiffening of her older cousin's spine a thousand times before. She knew her cousin was exactly five minutes away from completely losing it and exploding. Her mommy said that Anastasia got their uncle Clint's temper in doubles, triples when you factor in the only mother she'd ever known was the infamous Black Widow.

"Stay back."

He pointed to himself and then chuckled, a confused look in his eyes. She comes into the Barton's house, is holding their kids and he's never even seen her before and she was standing there with the audacity to act as if she were the one in danger? The thought had him a little ticked.

"I'm _not_ fucking kidding. Stay back." Anastasia repeated as she stepped back, making sure to put the kids behind her and move Nathaniel to the other side of her body, hopefully out of his reach if he meant her cousins harm. She'd already been through one hell of a twelve hours just getting out of a situation she quite frankly had no business being in at the age of 19. Her nerves were still shot from dealing with cutting ties with a scarily possessive and easy to anger boyfriend. She was still just breathing in and out and trying to get herself at least partially together about how that all went down…

And now she was going to have to face off against a trained Hydra agent in her own damn house?

Hell no… Anastasia Natalya Barton was _not_ having that. Not that day. She was nothing if not her father and adoptive mother's daughter and if it meant getting her own ass kicked or injured or worse - _though she was praying to God above that worst case scenario was not going to happen, she wasn't ready to die_ \- she'd do it to keep her family safe.

"Who the hell are you?" Pietro snapped in anger as he eyed her, his blue eyes turning an almost icy color for at least ten good seconds as his fists curled into balls. Anyone who really knew Pietro at this moment would know two things… One, this whole thing was annoying and two, he was starting to get really, really angry. And a third thing, he too would fight to the death to protect those he considered loved ones. He'd die if it meant saving his twin sister Wanda or his 'new family' the team he worked with now, the Avengers. He _almost had died_ , saving Barton's life.

"Anastasia Barton, buddy. And you're kind of standing in _my_ parents house. With my aunt Laura's kids."

Pietro eyed the slip of a girl with a long mane of hair almost as bright blonde as his own with a raised brow before bursting into laughter. "Agent Barton and Agent Romanov don't have a daughter."

"Yes. They do. Now you have exactly five seconds to tell me what the hell con you're pulling for Hydra to get you in here where practically nobody but the rest of the team knows about, Ken doll, or I'll put you on your ass so fast, I swear to God…."

The thought of the slip of a girl putting anyone on their ass was enough to make Pietro double over, clutching his sides in laughter. Then he stopped and stepped closer and said quietly, "You won't. You pretend to be bad ass… But your hands were shaking the entire time."

"They were not."

"They were, Anastasia."

And this is how the two of them stood when Laura and a girl with long and deep red hair and kind of bohemian hippie styled clothing found them when they walked in, arms full to bursting with groceries.

"Ana! There you are, pixie dust! Your dad and Nat have been worried sick about you. They said you haven't been checking in lately. I had to stop your father from coming up to that college and dragging you back here to the farm. Pietro and Wanda, this is my niece… This is Clint and Natasha's girl, Anastasia."

Pietro unclenched his fist and gaped at the slip of a blonde in shock.

Anastasia gave Pietro and then her aunt a really sheepish look.

"Can we talk, Aunt L? In the other room?"

"Yeah, pixie dust, just let me put this stuff up."

Anastasia practically dragged her aunt out of the room and into the kitchen, sliding the pocket doors shut behind her. As soon as those pocket doors shut, Wanda burst into laughter and mused aloud, "That went well, brother."

"Ah shut up, sister." Pietro grumbled sourly as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared a hole through the door. Lila tugged his pants legs and he bent to pick her up.

"A loves us too. She just get carried away sometimes."

Cooper snickered and then said "This one time, a guy came to the door selling something when Mom was in the shower and he kept being pushy and she laid him out! It was awesome."

Something about what Cooper said about his cousin fit the girl in question, yet just now when Pietro got within touching distance of her she'd flinched away visibly and those pretty green eyes of hers had widened with dilating pupils in fear… If she was such a brave girl, Pietro wondered, why did she look so afraid when someone actually looked into her eyes?

Wanda groaned inwardly. She didn't have to actually lay hands on her brother to know where his mind was at currently.

"Don't even think about it, Pietro."

"I wasn't." Pietro grumbled as he continued to do the very thing that his sister just accused him of… Something had his danger senses in high alert about her. Now that he knew she wasn't with Hydra and here to hurt his mentors and their niece and nephews and sister… What was off with her?

He'd have to keep a close eye on her.

"Are you crazy, Aunty L?" Anastasia hissed frantically as she peeked through the door separating the kitchen from the living space on the main floor of her house. She stared at Pietro and the girl, panic red alerts going off left and right.

"What do you mean? And why the hell haven't you been calling to check in, pixie dust? What's wrong with you? You don't come home much anymore and when you do you look like you're scared to death to leave again."

"I'm fine." Anastasia mumbled, diverting her eyes, hoping her aunt didn't keep prodding. She'd gotten away from the situation, that was all that really mattered. She was out and she hadn't let things get any scarier between herself and the guy she'd ran from than she'd actually been dumb enough to allow them to get in the first place.

The last thing she wanted was to drag everyone else into the mess she made on her own.

"No, Anastasia Natalya Barton you are not. As far as Pietro and Wanda, they're staying here. They're being trained and worked with by your father and Nat."

Anastasia palmed her forehead. She'd had so much on her mind lately, fear and stress and school… How had she forgotten her mother mentioning everything that transpired AFTER they found the twins and Ultron in Sokovia?

"Ughh.. And now I owe the smug jerk an apology." Anastasia mumbled as she lightly banged her head against the kitchen table.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Aunt L, please..."

"Well you know you're going to have the talk tonight when your parents get back from the compound, pixie dust. If it's bad you can practice it on me."

"I'm fine, I swear… It was just school."

"And an ass hole named Davey, maybe?" her aunt asked as she finished pouring tea from the tea kettle on the stove into a glass and sat the glass down in front of her. "Your father really doesn't like him and if they were allowed to snoop and dig deeper at work, honey… And if your mother were still alive, I know she'd disapprove… And Natasha wants to kill the kid every single time he comes here with you.. She said there's something off about him. We're all worried about you."

Anastasia couldn't hold it back anymore. She took a long sip of the tea and then dropped her gaze to her hands as she said quietly, "I was stupid… It was bad, okay? But you don't have to worry about him anymore. It's… It's done. I'm done. And I'm coming back home."

"You're leaving that college in upstate New York? But why? You have amazing grades… You're not pregnant are you?"

The thought made Anastasia cringe and then laugh dryly… "oh no… nope aunt L, it's not that simple. I'll talk to you and dad and mom tonight. I'd rather do it then… I just need a few hours to get myself together."

Her aunt hugged her and then said quietly, "For what it's worth, pixie dust.. Whatever you did, you had to do it. You look a little less stressed than you did the last time you came home. A little less hunted. You're safe here.. You know that, right?"

"Always."

"Good girl. Now go wash up… Let's get this brood their supper on the table."

Anastasia laughed a little and let go of the hug from her aunt and then said quietly, "Thanks… I think I needed to get something out just then… Now I just have to make myself get it out with Dad and Mom."

"You will. You're a strong girl."

As Anastasia left the room she sighed quietly and thought to herself, _'No, I'm not. I'm stupid and weak and pathetic and somehow Davey saw that and he took it and used it. I lost a part of me I'm scared I won't ever get back.'_

She stopped in front of Pietro and said quietly, "About before…. I'm sorry, I just… Mom mentioned you guys and it slipped my mind. School is a bitch. Am I forgiven, Pietro?"

Pietro eyed the blonde warily and Wanda cut in quietly, " It is alright. Pietro can be a bit hot headed."

"And so can I. And I shouldn't have been."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she walked solemnly up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door behind her. She slid down and sat on the hardwood floor, arms folded over her knees, head resting on top of them.

For about five good minutes all she did was just breathe in and breathe out.

She was home now. She was safe. Home was safe when nowhere else ever was… Why didn't she feel all better automatically?


	2. Home - Conclusion

NOTES:

This chapter sort of delves into Anastasia's relationship with OC Davey. It was really hard for me to write because I actually dated a guy kind of like this IRL. I hope that I handled it well enough that nobody's upset by reading it or anything. I also hope to God I have Hawkeye and Natasha as IC as I can get them considering that this is an AU fic.

Loose translation 1: Natasha is just relieved that her 'little spider' is back in the 'web' and safe. She's reflecting on the bad feelings that Davey gave her when she met him the few times she did. She's basically telling herself that the most important thing is to help Anastasia through everything she's dealing with. She wants to kill the guy but she wants to help her adopted daughter too.

Loose translation 2: Anastasia is reassuring Clint and Natasha that no she is not knocked up. She's telling them what she went through (the way Davey did his best to isolate her covertly without her realizing it until it was too late) and the way she was scared to leave and felt pressured to stay. That she's ashamed that she didn't get out sooner and she's scared.

Loose translation 3: Natasha is asking the question every parent is dreading asking their kids if they discover their kids are in a toxic relationship. She's asking if the ordeal ever turned physical. She's also threatening to kill Davey. Which is kind of understandable.

Wanda is in this chapter too because duh, she's Wanda freaking Maximoff, my girl crush. Pietro will be in the next chapter, I promise, I just had to sort of finish things off with Chapter One. Anyway, this is chapter One part Two.

* * *

You won't ever be alone,

 _ **Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet**_  
wait for me to come home

ONE CONTINUED:

CONTINUED

The cell phone in her hands rang and she dropped it as if it were a hand full of snakes she'd been holding. She glared at the phone lying on her bedroom floor, it's screen shattered and felt even more pathetic than she'd felt knowing it had taken her almost a year to get out of the situation she'd been in with Davey, her ex.

Even now all it took was one call and she was thrown right back into an internal upset. He'd called three times in almost as many hours. She lightly banged her head against the vanity in her bedroom and groaned aloud.

"When I fuck up..." she mumbled out loud, not realizing someone was standing in her doorway. She heard a throat clear and turned quickly to find the red haired girl standing there, staring at the phone laying on the floor ringing with it's screen shattered and Anastasia, who was trying to take a few deep breaths and talk herself down from the panic attack she was in currently.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm… It rang and I was doing something, it must have slid off my vanity. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Anastasia said it as bravely as she could, totally unaware that if Wanda Maximoff really wanted to know what was the issue, all she had to do was touch Anastasia and she'd see into her mind.

Wanda didn't need to touch the petite blonde to know something was very wrong with her right then. She could see it in the widened eyes and the dilated pupils, the shaking hands, the way her voice was shakier than she'd probably intended it to sound when she'd spoken.

"You are sure?"

"Positive. I'll be fuckin fantastic." Anastasia muttered as she went back to attempting to do something with her hair and make up. She didn't want her mother or her father suspecting anything might be awry or things would get real bad for Davey, real fast.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she immediately wanted to punch herself in the throat for having it. He'd been a monster at worst and a dick at best… And there she went again, making excuses for him again.

Would she _ever_ stop doing it?

The door opened downstairs and she heard her adoptive mother calling her name. She took a few deep breaths as she gave herself a once over in the mirror on her vanity. She plastered on her biggest fake smile mostly because her cousins were still awake and they had strangers apparently dining with them, strangers that Anastasia still wasn't quite sure if they were friendlies or foes, and it wasn't anyone's business but her own… And her parents of course, because if she didn't tell them tonight, her aunt L would.

She knew it for a fact.

Her aunt L had done such a thing before during her not so distant wilder teenage years when she was in the full grips of rebellion and unnecessary angst.

"Anastasia? Are you okay, pixie dust? You weren't coming in for Thanksgiving until this weekend." her adoptive mom called up the stairs.

"Well shit… Here we go." Anastasia mumbled to herself as she stood on very shaky legs and took at least five big deep breaths to pull herself together again.

The phone rang on her way out of her bedroom and she picked up her old trusty wooden baseball bat and bashed it until it was silent.

Halfway up the stairs, Natasha heard the sounds of something being hit from her adopted daughter's bedroom and she raised a brow and mumbled quietly, " Моя мало крестовина снова в интернете. Как бы то ни было рядом, мы можем работать вместе. Я просто надеюсь она& действительно соответствует норме." as Clint asked quietly from the bottom of the stairs, "Is she okay up there?"

"I'm coming… I tripped." Anastasia cal led out so that her mother didn't freak out and go full blown agent and kick the door in. She'd nearly done it a time or two because Anastasia fell out of bed during the night and Natasha's training and well developed paranoia and awareness of every single creak or groan of a pipe in their farmhouse kicked in.

She took another few deep breaths and tossed the broken phone into the garbage next to her desk and then put her bat back where she kept it, right beside the door.

She ran down the stairs and into her mom and dad's arms, smiling into their hugs, truly feeling a thousand times safer just knowing she was home and she was safe and that whatever happened after their talk, she knew she wouldn't be handling it alone.

"You came home early."

"Yeah, I wanted to spend more time with you guys… There are people staying here?" Anastasia used the twins presence as a distraction, she just needed a few more minutes to think, to figure out how she was going to tell her parents everything.

The worst part of all of it was that she was scared to death they'd be disappointed in her or they'd try to go overprotective and go off and kill the jerk.

"Nice try, little spider… In the kitchen, now." Natasha pointed to the dining room table and hugged her adopted daughter. Clint hugged his daughter and said quietly, "I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to get a green guy pissed and unleash him on that little pissant college town, kid. Are you sure you're okay? You don't look okay."

"She doesn't. But she's about to tell us why… Aren't you, little spider?"

Anyone who ever says that Natasha Romanoff isn't your worst nightmare in an interrogation has clearly never had her as a mother. Anastasia slumped her shoulders and followed her parents and her aunt into the kitchen and the second her father slid the pocket doors seperating the kitchen from the living room shut Anastasia knew she was either in for an epic ass chewing because she'd been so long without checking in like she promised she'd do, or they were about to reveal that they knew every single thing Davey had ever done in his life, right down to any speeding tickets he might have.

"So that little jackass… he didn't come too?" Clint asked as he took a bite of an apple.

"Babe..."

"Well, Nat, the kids a little jackass."

"He is but whenever I say it you tell me to be nice." Natasha pretended to pout as she looked into her daughter's eyes and asked quietly, " That is a good question though. You told us he'd come with you that you were going to let us get to know him better. He's not here, so can I hope you two are done?"

That was her mom though. Blunt and to the point and sometimes about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

"Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you guys about..."

"I'm not going to like this, am I, pixie dust?" Clint asked, swearing in his next breaths, saying that he should have shot the little jerk in the ass with a few of his special poison tipped arrows when he actually met him.. Or locked Anastasia up in the attic until she was 90 and couldn't be hurt.

Anastasia cleared her throat and said quietly, "Daddy… I've gotta get this out, okay?"

"You're not pregnant, right? If she's pregnant and that little son of a…." Natasha started, only really calming down when Clint put his hand on her left shoulder and gently massaged. She was starting to swear in Russian and Anastasia quickly cut in in Russian also, "Мать! I& # 039 ;m не беременны, Ух ты, Ух ты ... Успокойтесь. Она& # 039 ;s нет ничего такого ... Я просто стыдно. Я был слабым, матери. И глупо.Я доверяю Дэви и он показал мне точно установить, почему я ти лет& # 039 ;t доверия народа, с тем чтобы легко. Это страшно здесь в течение нескольких месяцев ... Я просто слишком стыдно рассказать и папа что происходит на ... И страшно." which Clint shook his head and then said calmly, "You are not weak. And being scared is a normal thing, pixie. But that one guy isn't every person, Anastasia."

Natasha eyed her adopted daughter, her only child and nodded and then said quietly, "Он не разрушит вас он Pixie пыль? Вы можете рассказать мне. Я убить его прямо сейчас, право на этот второй." and Anastasia wiped at her eyes and looked at her hands as she said calmly, "He never laid a hand on me. But there are other ways..."

"That little son of a bitch, give me the keys, Nat, papa Hawk is going to have a serious talk with this little shit… If he thinks for one second that he's going to intimidate our kid."

This time it was Natasha's turn to calm Clint down. She told him to take a few deep breaths and he did, but he still swung at and punched the cabinet.

Anastasia flinched and Natasha felt like an enrage lioness. "That kid is definitely going to get an ass kicking. You say he didn't hit you, pixie dust but you flinch every single time a voice is raised lately.. And you flinched just now."

"Because, Mom… I hate it when Daddy gets mad."

"Laura, hide your brother's keys. We both need to calm down."

"To hell with calm, Nat."

"I know, I know… But we have to help our daughter first. Then we can go find this little jerk and make him feel our wrath, okay? First this."

Clint nodded.

"That's all, right?"

Anastasia nodded and said quietly, "Yeah, it's enough, isn't it? Totally destroying my faith in pretty much anything including myself. I came home early because I dropped out of that college there… I just… I don't feel safe there anymore. I want to come home and go to the junior college in town… I can get my old job back with Millie at the salon or teach dance classes after class. I'll pay my way, I swear. I just… I have this feeling if I go back.."

The statement alone sent chills down Natasha's spine and she nodded and grabbed Anastasia's hand and said quietly, "Everything is going to be okay. Literally nobody is going to find you here and if they do, if they dare try anything, God help them."

"That's why I came home… I never feel safe anywhere but here. I mean even when I first got there and settled in during the start of the semester, Mom… Have you ever felt like you were being watched or something?"

That didn't make Clint feel too thrilled either and he looked at Natasha and said quietly, "We're talking to Fury, tomorrow. I knew I should have went to him when I got a bad vibe off the damn kid."

"We should have, yes… But you know Fury won't let us snoop. Not without a good reason… But you're right, maybe if we go to him tomorrow..."

"No, mom and dad. No.. No snooping. No going after him. I just want to forget, okay? Can you guys just let me forget?" Anastasia asked in a smaller voice as she jammed her hand into her eyes.

Clint and Natasha eyed each other and then both nodded.

"But if he makes any kind of contact, pixie dust and I mean any… he's as good as dead. And we can do it and get away with it."

Anastasia knew they were only trying to make her feel better so she managed a small laugh.

"So Monday… You're going to the junior college."

"Yes sir."

"I think maybe we should make either Pietro or Wanda stay with her.. And at least get Stark out here with more security equipment."

Clint nodded thoughtfully and then said "I still say we go kill..."

"Clint, _for now_ we let the little prick live. Anastasia came to us with this. She didn't stay in it until it got so bad that she couldn't."

Anastasia felt guilty, she had stayed too long, she knew it.

But she had gotten out before things got much worse. And they could have been a thousand times worse.. Right?

"That's all, right?"

"That's it. That's everything that's been bothering me. I've had one hell of a day..." Anastasia hugged her parents and they gave her a good night kiss.

"You're sure you're okay. If there are things you want to talk about but you don't want to tell me or your dad, pixie… There are a few people you could talk to. I'm just glad you're home."

"I'm beyond thrilled you're home, pixie. I didn't really want you to move there to begin with." Clint stated as Anastasia nodded and told them both quietly that they were right and she should have listened, she wished she had listened.

And out in the yard, at the end of the long driveway, the man sitting in the parked car pulled out his phone and dialed his girlfriends number again. He swore and punched the wheel when it went to voicemail.

He called his boss to check in with the job he'd been assigned and assured him that not just yet but soon.. It would be a go.


	3. Sparring Session

NOTES:

First of all, I had my first two reviews! I was so happy I wanted to cry a little. I really didn't think the idea would catch on. I also have a favorite and 3 followers, holy shit that amazes me in itself because I've never done the thang before? Anyway, I love you guys so much for giving the story a little love. I've enjoyed writing it.

Okay, so this chapter... It turned out entirely different than I thought it would. It takes place about two or three weeks after Pietro and Anastasia's initial introduction to each other. Pietro has been tasked with 'guarding' Anastasia by Clint and Natasha... And we all know where that'll head sooner or later, right? Or will it? We'll see.. For now though, have some sparring Pietro and Anastasia. And some shirtless Steve and a little father / daughter taunting and playing around with each other too. I hope you guys like it!

* * *

TWO

I may be soft in your palm

 **but I'll soon grow hungry for a fight,**  
and I will not let you win

The weight bag swung with each punch and kick that Anastasia sent it's way. Each punch and kick was connecting with her ex and not a weight bag in her mind though, and anyone really watching her could see that she had a lot of internalized anger about something.

About the third or fourth roundhouse kick and left hook followed by the right combination she unleashed onto the weight bag, Anastasia felt two things… She felt eyes on her and she felt a tap to her shoulder. Quickly, she glanced around the room and the only other person around besides Steve Rogers, a member of her parents team, well… It was Pietro.

She diverted her eyes from his buff shirtless figure quickly and laughed at herself. Like he was the one who'd been staring. _Even if he were_ , she thought to herself, _it wouldn't matter because she was damaged goods now, kind of like canned goods that hit the supermarket floor and then you take them to the register and argue until you get half wanted her damages and baggage._

She shook her head and heard a throat clearing from behind her, only to turn quickly and have herself come body to body with Steve Rogers, the other person in the training facility right now. She flinched back quickly and Steve noticed and eyed her with a raised brow.

She couldn't help but notice that yes, there was something in the water, all of the male agents not related to her by blood were… Well, they were definitely attractive men. She wasn't dead, she'd noticed that. Didn't mean she'd be stupid enough or okay enough to even contemplate acting on it at any point in the foreseeable future.

She licked her lips and nodded when Steve spoke up to ask her, "You okay, kid? You're over here beating that weight bag like it threatened your life."

"I'm fine. Just working out."

" You're sure?" Steve asked as he nodded to her technique and then said casually, "You're pretty good."

"My mom kind of trained me… My adopted mom, I mean."

Steve realized then that the petite blonde looked really familiar, and then he thought about it and realized why. He gaped a moment and blurted out quickly, "Natasha's not your real mom?"

"To me, yes. My real mom died when I was born… My daddy started seeing Natasha when I was probably six months old and she adopted me. You didn't know that?" Anastasia asked, baffled a little. She looked more like her real mother than she did either of her parents or her aunt, it had driven her crazy when she was little, she used to cry sometimes because she'd get scared that she wasn't her daddy's little girl.

She thought about the irony and the difference in her fears from then to now and she laughed at herself internally and shook her head. Steve apologized sheepishly and Anastasia shrugged and said quietly, "It's not a big deal… To me, Natasha is my mom."

Steve nodded and smiled but nodded to the weight bag and said "If you want to spar with someone, the ring is free. It might help you work out whatever obviously has you so upset."

Anastasia eyed the ring and then Steve, brow raised momentarily. She wasn't sure how she'd handle sparring, she seemed to flinch at the slightest touch or someone yelling or shouting lately. She didn't want to put herself in another uncomfortable position.

"Get lost, Rogers." a deep and very familiar thickly accented male voice spoke up from behind and Anastasia's head snapped around, she saw Pietro standing there, arms crossed over his chest as he held her gaze intently. "You are too old for her."

"Excuse me, Maximoff? Who in the hell died and made you ruler over me?" Anastasia had a momentary lapse into her former fire and sass and Pietro eyed her, nodded at Steve and then said calmly, "Your mother and father told me to watch you today."

"Great. They think I need a babysitter. I tell them one bad thing, they go overboard trying to overprotect me. I'm fine, Pietro… You don't have to..." Anastasia eyed Pietro carefully. Something told her he was watching her for his own reasons too, she definitely picked up on that.

Did he distrust her?

It made no sense and quite frankly, the possibility baffled her.

Steve spoke up calmly, "Don't you have a training session to finish anyway, Maximoff?"

"Finished about three minutes ago." Pietro answered calmly, staring down the super soldier.

"Mhmm, sure you did."

"Ask the trainer if you do not believe me, Captain." Pietro ground out through a tightly clenched jaw, shocked at this surprising and sudden surge of jealousy and protectiveness he felt towards Anastasia. Captain was too old for her. She looked like she was barely legal.

"Okay, whoa… Both of you, dial it down. Steve was just talking to me. And you, Pietro, did my mom and daddy put you up to following me everywhere lately? Is that why you crawled down the guy at the diner's throat when I went to pick up my first check earlier?"

"He was hitting on you."

"All he said, Pietro, was to have a fun night off. In no way, shape or form was he hitting on me. And even if he were, it wouldn't matter. I'm not about to be that stupid again. I can handle myself, trust me."

"Yes, well your mother and father are not people I wish to piss off."

"Ughh!" Anastasia grumbled in frustration as she eyed the ring.

"If you're so hell bent on babysitting duty, Maximoff… We can spar?" Anastasia wasn't sure why in the hell she blurted it out, or why her stomach fluttered slightly when the words left her lips. Pietro laughed and then he saw the look in her eyes, the slight flare of her nostrils, the flush in her cheeks, all signs of her not being amused, he knew them well after their first few run ins. "You want to spar… With me?" he pointed at himself and that's probably where he really messed up.

Steve chuckled to himself and stood there, looking from Anastasia to Pietro.

"I might surprise you, Maximoff." Anastasia snapped defensively, all the while wondering why exactly in the hell she was about to do this, with him of all people. She had to see this guy whenever she went home! And he was cocky enough that if she didn't win…. He wasn't letting her live it down anytime soon! And then there were her issues with the male species for the most part as of late… She was going to blame her Barton slash Romanoff temper.

Steve went all business and he blew the whistle hanging around his neck as soon as the two of them were in the ring and in position. Pietro said with a smirk, "You can always back out."

"Yeah, how about no. I'm Barton and Romanoff and we don't back off, Maximoff. I said I wanted to..." Anastasia managed to gasp out as Pietro shrugged and took her down quickly and carefully. What surprised Pietro, however, was the speed and agility with which she managed to wrap her legs around his hips and take him down by squeezing hard enough that it was at least a little unpleasant and he wanted to just drop the hold he had her in.

They were a speeding and sloppy tangle of arms and legs and bodies on the mat and Steve could only stand there and chuckle until Clint walked over and nodded to the mat.

"He took it too far again, didn't he?"

"Yeah… Ouch, that's going to hurt him in a few hours… Maximoff, back off a little." Steve warned Pietro who only gave him a dirty look and said something that was probably the equivalent of Sokovian swears. Steve used the shirt around his neck to wipe at sweat from his forehead and watched the ongoing sparring match trying to resist the urge to comment about the way they were going at it but they were still managing to hold back a good bit. "She fights like Nat… Dirty." Steve remarked as Clint chuckled and nodded, watching the fight like a hawk. "Hey… You don't break my kid, Maximoff, you ape." and Steve stretched, the muscles flexing as he did so. He chuckled as he nodded to the two sparring and then said "So I'm taking it you and Nat have both taught her basic self defense?"

"You know it. Natasha handled the fighting, I taught her archery and how to handle a gun. No way in hell am I letting my kid go off anywhere unprepared… I mean you never know, man. She's my baby… Well, one of my babies." Clint said with a fond and proud smirk.

Pietro had her pinned beneath him and he smirked, but as quickly as he'd pinned her down, Anastasia was out of the hold and it felt like she was attempting to sit on him. He grunted and grabbed for her, sweat rolling off of the pair of fighters. The situation was at best a little bit of a release for him, everything about Anastasia Barton frustrated him, it had since the day they met. But it wasn't just the normal frustration… He couldn't lie that deep down he was at least a little physically attracted to the slip of a blonde he currently was doing his best to be gentle with but without making it so obvious that she got mad and walked away. He got the feeling that them sparring was helping her more than she realized with whatever she had going on that she wasn't telling anyone about. "You can submit, Anastasia."

"Tap, Pietro. Nobody will think any less of you." Anastasia panted as she got him into a submission maneuver that her mom taught her when she'd first expressed an interest in learning basic MMA and self defense. Pietro panted back, "Me? Tap out? Hardly, Anastasia." as he managed to free himself from the hold quite easily.

Clint blew the whistle and told Anastasia playfully, "We can't kill Speedy, pixie dust. He's an Avenger."

"I'm not trying to, daddy." Anastasia managed to grunt as she rolled out of Pietro's way but he still managed to grab her and take her down yet again. She growled in frustration and Pietro snickered, he couldn't help it. However, when she did a leg sweep while he wasn't paying attention, he glared at her.

"We should make them stop."

"We should but this is annoying Pietro and helping my little girl. I haven't seen her this lively and riled up in a while, Rogers. This is doing her good." Clint admitted as Steve eyed him and then asked, "What's wrong?"

"She was dating this little jerk that Nat and I both want dead. Fury won't let us look into the guy, but I swear I've seen him somewhere before… I don't have a good feeling about him or the situation. Kind of why I told Pietro that until he's cleared to go on missions with the team, he can bodyguard Anastasia."

Steve nodded and then asked, "How bad was it?"

"She's vague when we ask. She says he didn't lay a hand on her, I'm not so sure… Something spooked her enough to leave the college she was going to and come back home, enroll in a junior college near the farm and hardly ever leave the house. Today's the first time she's been out of the house since she came home two weeks ago."

They shared a look and Steve offered to find a way to get Fury to let them dig into things. Clint nodded thoughtfully and then blew the whistle again.

"Both of you, grab a seat and some water. Good sparring session, Maximoff. If you keep up with that you'll be out in the field where you want to be in no time. Do you feel better now, Pixie?"

"Lots." Anastasia admitted as she gulped down the water greedily and tried to work on catching her breath. Oh, she felt like she'd let a lot of things go, but now she had this strange feeling of frustration, she kept thinking about his hands….. That cocky grin…

"Nope, nipping this in the bud right now. Pietro is just like the rest of them. Or he'll turn out to be. And I'm not making another mistake. I barely escaped this one." Anastasia thought to herself as she stood and grabbed her gym bag and walked out of the gym after talking to her father and giving him a hug, telling him she was going to cook his favorite thing later that afternoon so he'd better tell Fury to take a hike and not demand him to go rushing away.

"I'll try, Pixie. You don't fly like a bat out of hell in that car, okay? And if you need me, pixie… I'm here. All you have to do is call and I'll be there in seconds."

"I know, Daddy. Love you. Going to shower now." Anastasia said as she walked past Pietro, careful not to meet his intent gaze as she walked past him. The less she entertained any thoughts about him, the less she acknowledged him, the less danger she'd put him in if Davey showed up and all hell broke loose… The thought surprised her when she had it and she quickly buried it again.

Pietro grumbled, annoyed with himself. When Clint suggested that he and Wanda sort of watch out for her, see if there was more to the situation than Anastasia was telling her father and mother, Pietro had known that being in such close proximity to a girl that he was at least a little interested in, well… Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea.

Especially knowing how good her father was with a bow and arrow and how lethal her mother could be. But he'd taken the task on because he'd become close to the Barton – Romanoff family and truthfully, he was curious about her, he just had this feeling she was hiding something.

What it could be worried him more than a little.


	4. Confiding

NOTES:

First of all, I had my first THREE reviews! I was so happy I wanted to cry a little. a special thanks to Calliopes Scribe, their review really touched me, it was very thoughtful and encouraging. I really didn't think the idea would catch on or that I can actually write all that well. I also have a favorite and 4 followers, holy shit that amazes me in itself because I've never done the thang before? Anyway, I love you guys so much for giving the story a little love. I've enjoyed writing it.

This chapter was hard for me on a personal level as someone who's been there and done that. You're stuck in this situation that you got yourself into because you thought the person was being their truest self but then you get in deeper and you realize that it's just a mask and the monster comes out. It was helpful to write it out, also a little painful because it dredged up memories. But that's good, that's dealing with it. PSA to anyone facing the scenario that Ana is with this OC ex of hers, Davey.. Get out! Do not let anyone try to isolate you, make you feel like they are all you have. Do not let them crush you or strip you of your spirit. Because I speak from experience when I say that it is a long road back to yourself but you eventually get there... But if you stay too long and their possesiveness turns to something else entirely it's never pretty. I really hope that you even one thing I'm saying or writing helps at least one person. That alone will truly be worth it to me.

Also, I wish I'd handled my own scenario differently, and I hope that I'm writing this as realistically as I can. This is how I handled it at first... But then I got help. If you feel it's handled wrongly, I'm sorry. I tried, it was hard for me to go back and recapture all that I felt.

Just be your own hero and advocate. If it's toxic, leave it. Good things **will** come again.

* * *

THREE

 _No thought was put into this_  
 **Always knew it would come to this**

 **I have never felt so frail**  
 _Things have never been so swell_

"Soon." that was all it took for Anastasia's hands to start shaking and for her to drop the cell phone onto the hardwood floor of her parents kitchen. She swore sharply and angrily and father's daughter she was, she swung her fist and punched the nearest thing, the refrigerator door.

Wanda eyed the platinum blonde girl with concern. She almost asked if Anastasia was okay, but she didn't. She poured herself another cup of tea and remarked quietly, " Nobody would think any less of you if you actually ask for help with whatever is wrong."

"Yeah, well, I got my ass into this, going to get my ass out of it. Besides, if my mom and dad got involved..." Anastasia flopped down into the chair at the kitchen table and twisted the soda can around in front of her, staring at it.

"I came home because I got in with a really, really toxic guy. This much I have told them. What I haven't told them and what I'm begging you not to tell them, Wanda, is that this really toxic guy is now playing head games with me. He just keeps calling and… I mean he hasn't actually done anything… But whenever he calls it sort of triggers these crazy panic attack type things and I don't want them to treat me like I'm made of glass and I'm fucking sick of being afraid to _live_."

Wanda watched the girl and made a mental note to tell Pietro later what Anastasia had just revealed to her, he seemed concerned that somehow something was off and she wasn't telling everything. Wanda sensed that too. And she worried about what Anastasia wasn't saying.

Holding all that stuff in is never good and the girl sitting across the table from her currently just sort of looked like she was at the end of her rope as to how to handle things.

"You should tell someone."

"I told you." Anastasia stated calmly as she trailed a fingertip around the top of the soda can and sighed as she said quietly, " Besides, they warned me about him, all of them warned me about him and as per usual, I went off and did whatever the hell I wanted anyway. This is just Karma giving me a wakeup call. And I hate every single second of it. If I told them about it, Wanda, they'd lock me up in a tower or put me in a bubble… And I love them for that but I have to learn to fight. I have to stand again. I can't just let them protect me forever."

"But sometimes you need it . If it's really that serious… And from the way you looked, it is." Wanda stated in just a calm a tone as Anastasia had spoken to her. Anastasia shook her head and then said quietly, " And they keep sending Pietro out with me everywhere I go and all I can think is that is the last thing they need to do… I mean if Davey goes beyond just calling… He'd be right in the middle of it. I don't want that. I mean he seems like this incredible and brave person… He's done more than enough for my parents or me, my whole family… If he'd just let my father take those bullets..." Anastasia shivered visibly as she shook her head at the thought.

She didn't even want to _think_ about how if Pietro and Wanda hadn't switched sides during that whole ordeal how _differently_ things would have played out.

Something in her tone and the way she talked or looked when she said Pietro's name in conversation made Wanda give a small and hidden smile while Anastasia wasn't looking. As much as the two fought and as much as both claimed otherwise, maybe… Just maybe there was something there.

" If something happened to him… It would be all my fault. I'd just rather that it happened to me, the deserving party."

Wanda nodded, but she didn't like Anastasia asking her not to say anything to anyone and she fully intended not to abide by it. She could at least tell Pietro that the reason Anastasia kept running or hiding or sneaking away when he was with her was that Anastasia was scared to death that something would happen to him because of the situation she was in. That the situation was _worse_ than Anastasia let on to everyone.

"So that is why you are always losing him or leaving or picking a fight so that he storms off."

"Yes. Because every single time I leave the farmhouse I'm half afraid that I'll turn around and I'll be face to face with Davey again. And I used to think he wouldn't actually physically hurt me, but I've seen him hurt someone just for looking at me and it scared me… That's when I left… I mean all this person did, Wanda, was just ask me something about the class we had together and talk to me a few seconds." Anastasia inhaled sharply as she took a sip of her drink.

Wanda nodded and then mused aloud, "Then it is good that you left."

Anastasia nodded.

Wanda left the kitchen and she turned a corner in the hallway, coming face to face with her brother, who she quickly dragged into the room he slept in and shutting the door, she told him everything Anastasia told her in the kitchen just a few minutes before.

"And she's not telling anyone that he is calling?" Pietro asked, concerned and more than a little irritated at Anastasia's deliberately keeping herself in danger and everyone who cared about her, _-better include yourself in that, Maximoff, because you have to admit that yes, you do feel something; a pull or a connection.-_ and he was half tempted to go and find her and confront her about it.

But then Wanda explained why she wasn't dragging everyone into it, how she felt like somehow, it was her own fault and facing it on her own was her punishment. That she'd rather have something bad happen to her than to everyone she cared about.

"She included you in that, brother… The reason she keeps leaving you or angering you or sneaking away when you go somewhere with her is because she's afraid that if you're seen with her and this person is around..." Wanda added as she finished talking and looked at her twin brother.

She saw the same thing in his eyes as she'd seen in Anastasia's.

"I cheated death.."

"You barely cheated death." Wanda reminded Pietro who said in a calm voice, "But I am alive now, right? I can defend myself."

"Now you have your answer, brother."

He nodded. He had his answer and to some degree, he sort of wished he didn't. The positive side was that maybe if she said all those things about him and not wanting him to be hurt… maybe she felt the pull to him that he felt to her, too?

He felt a little hopeful. Concerned and irritated, but hopeful all in the same.


	5. I Know You're Home I

NOTES:

Wow! I've gotten 3 reviews (special shoutout to Calliopes Scribe, her words were kind and I just wanted to hug her when she left the review that she left.) and to my two guest reviewers, I love you guys so much, that you left kind words and encouraged me to keep going was so amazing! This story is sort of helping me deal with things I went through in my own real life, so... It's hard sometimes. The emotional part of it, I meant. I believe Calliope asked to see the two admitting their feelings to themselves, that starts **now**.

It's a while in coming before they admit their feelings to each other, but... They are acknowledging that they feel things for each other internally. Which is good. Very good.

This chapter... It sort of starts Davey's other purpose in the story itself. That I'm not telling... Believe it or not, it actually has little or nothing to do with the OC why he's in the story. ;p Anyway, this chapter is also a cliffhanger. But I'm going to post the second half to it soon I swear!

I love you guys!

A

* * *

 _I should've known these walls would cave in_  
I should've never left my heart there on the line  
'Cause when the shit hit the fan  
 _All we ever had ended up lost in the fire_

Pietro leaned in the doorway, watching Anastasia intently. Everything Wanda told him a few days ago was bouncing around in his brain now, but every time he tried to confront Anastasia about keeping something that dangerous to herself, every single time he got the chance to blow up at her about it, she seemed to make herself scarce.

Anastasia and Lila were coloring on the floor of the den, there was some really strange classic rock playing in the background and all he could do was stare at her. He'd never been this painfully aware of another person before. He still found himself wondering what exactly it was about her that drew him to her like a magnet, but watching the way she interacted with her younger cousins and the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, her laugh, he was beginning to wonder why he was exerting so much time and energy ignoring it.

"Ana, will you take me to look at Christmas lights later? Please?" Lila asked her older cousin. Anastasia nodded and smiled, but inside, her insides were churning. She'd gotten another call earlier and this time Davey said that she'd see him again really really soon.

She just got this bad feeling this time… Like he wasn't just going to make idle threats over the phone. Like this time he might just be coming to do whatever he had up his sleeve.

She looked up to find herself being watched by Pietro.

She poked out her tongue, mostly in joking. She noticed that he seemed angry and tense lately. He kept acting like he was mad at her about something, like he wanted to tell her something, but since the calls started to get worse she'd been avoiding him.

She cared a little too much about the Sokovian male to let him get hurt by something she'd gotten herself into that her parents dragged him into. _'It's more than just caring about him, Ana. It's more than just trying to keep him safe. You feel something for him and it's so strong that it's getting too damn hard to ignore. It scares the living hell out of you so you're avoiding that too.'_ her brain dutifully reminded her as she reached for the purple crayon.

"I'm going to give my picture to Momma and Aunt Nat." Lila told Anastasia as she colored in a sunflower. Anastasia smiled and fluffed her younger cousin's head and then said "I will too."

"But you sketched Pietro. Shouldn't you give it to him?"

Anastasia coughed and hoped to hell Pietro hadn't heard Lila when she asked her the finally leaned in and whispered into her little cousin's ear, "That's actually not a bad idea, Lila… I mean maybe then we can be friends. Then he'll know I don't hate him, I just… he can't get too close."

"Why not, A?"

"Being a big girl is complicated, Lil." Anastasia explained with a sigh as she cast a look over her shoulder at Pietro in a sort of longing way. If she didn't have half her baggage and she wasn't as broken as she was now… If she was the girl she'd been last year around this time… Nothing would stop her from letting him know how she felt about him… Davey changed all that. Now she was afraid of everything and even more af raid to admit it and ask for help.

The landline phone rang in the kitchen and Anastasia jumped up like a rocket and sped towards the phone. Pietro saw his move and cut her off at the pass, arms folded across his chest, a very unamused look on his face. His jaw was tightly clenched, his eyes were almost a darker shade of blue… She'd seen him get that way one time or two already, it was when he was mad about something.

"Move. I need to get that in case it's.."

"That asshole you came home to get away f rom… Am I even a little close, printsessa?" Pietro leaned in. "No, I was going to say my mom and dad."

"Sure you were, printsessa."

Her stomach was churning a little, she was uneasy. Especially when voicemail came on and confirmed what Pietro had assumed.

Just hearing Davey's voice, cold and unfeeling and emotionless on the answering machine sent a chill down her spine.

"Aww, c'mon, babe… I _know_ you're home."

Pietro started to walk towards the phone and answering machine, Anastasia grabbed his hand and shook her head. Pietro eyed her and then demanded, "How long, Anastasia?"

"Don't start with me, okay? All he's doing is calling. He's not showing up, he's just playing head games with me over the phone. I got myself into this, Pietro, I'm going to get myself out."

"You are not." Pietro stubbornly insisted.

All Anastasia could think of was that last call she'd been able to intercept, Davey's words about what would happen to anyone she cared about if they tried to help her, if they _kept her_ from him. All she could think about was the way Pietro almost died once and how she didn't want to lose him like that, how she didn't want to lose her mother or her father or her aunt or her cousins or Pietro's sister Wanda or anyone who might try and stop whatever Davey was threatening when he'd said the words during the last call.

All of this; everything that was happening now, it was all her fault.

She glared at Pietro. Anger was her best and only defense. Or she thought it was.

"He said that he knew you were home, printsessa."

"He says that every single time he calls and don't pick up. He's just trying to be creepy. And he knows that I'm not a really social person, so..." Anastasia defended.

"The way that sounded to me, printsessa… It was more than him just trying to be creepy. He actually seemed to be confident that he knew where you were."

Anastasia thought to herself _"And he's got a number that's not listed anywhere… That you never gave to him. Maybe it's time to tell someone that you might just be in over your head? Stop fighting so hard to rescue yourself and ask for help."_ but then other parts of her mind argued, " _And what then? Not even be able to go out and get coffee or go to work without a bodyguard? Never not looking o ver your shoulder again? You know you'd never be able to do that."_

"He was not." Anastasia argued. Before either of them could say another word, the phone rang again. And again, Anastasia tried to side step Pietro and grab it, to finally tell Davey to either do something to her and hurt her already but leave her family and the Maximoff twins, mostly Pietro, out of this, or to leave her the hell alone if he was only going to play games with her head because she was done being the victim.

But Pietro shook his head and stood there, staring into her eyes. He had so many things he wanted to do and say right then, he wanted to grab her and shake her and make her see that this person was not just playing some game, that he was not just using the phone to scare her and keep her afraid, but when he tried to say something, nothing came out.

"I'm going to tell your parents."

"Damn it, Pietro, you can't."

"I can and I am, printsessa."

"If you'll let me by, I can answer and prove it's just a game to him and he's not going to come all the way here. He doesn't like playing with his toys after he's broken them." Anastasia added quietly as she finally stepped around Pietro and moved to pick up the phone.

"You're not broken."

"You barely know me."

"C'mon, Ana… Pick up, babe… Pick up or your pretty new little boy toy gets it when I get I'm already here... I'll never tell." Davey chuckled from the other end of the line.

Her eyes widened and her throat closed up then. It made her sick on her stomach… How the hell had he known Pietro was basically playing bodyguard slash babysitter to her on her parents command since she'd come back?

Pietro growled and nodded to the phone as he said in an angrier tone, "Didn't sound like he was just making an idle threat then, printsessa." as he glared at the phone and then at her.

"Look, he's just like this, okay? He made a lucky guess."

Even that sounded like she was desperately grasping at straws now, anxious to keep the guy she secretly was falling for and had this magnetic pull towards out of the middle of things. It was already bad enough that her parents had him somewhat in the middle of it because they had him guarding her.

If something happened to him…

"He knew, Anastasia."

"Damn it, Pietro, you have to stay the hell out of this!" she snapped, anxious to make him back off her, to make him stop doing this, anything to keep him out of danger.

She needed to get the hell out of there. She needed to think.

"I'm going outside." she said after a few seconds. She stepped around Pietro again and she walked out the backyard and into the yard.

Her childhood tree house was there in that tree in the backyard and she just wanted to feel like a little girl again. She just wanted to be alone, to make a plan, something that saved her family and Pietro from danger. She needed to think and the treehouse had always been the place she went to do that.She was close enough to the farmhouse that she could still see the light on in the kitchen.

Anastasia walked over to the tree and began climbing up the wooden ladder steps, pulling herself up and into the treehouse.

"You came. You do care, babe. Question is… Is it me you care about or is it that boy toy of yours you're attached at the hip to lately?" Davey spoke up from the corner as he flicked the lighter in his hand and it cast a glow on his face.As soon as she heard him speak and saw his face her stomach churned. She'd made a huge mistake. A terrible and stupid mistake.

Anastasia's blood ran cold and a shiver ran down her spine. She was about to jump out of the tree house but something was blocking her, she couldn't see but she felt hands on her arms and then a prick to her neck. She passed out before she could even scream.


	6. I Know You're Home II

NOTES:

Wow! I've gotten 4 reviews (special shoutout to Calliopes Scribe, her words were kind and I just wanted to hug her when she left the review that she left. Also to Tiger Pansy, I love you so much for taking the time to review and leave me a suggestion and tell me you couldn't wait to read the next part! I'm honored you liked it so much! I hope you like this part! Vision and the other Avengers are going to be in here soon...) and to my two guest reviewers, I love you guys so much, that you left kind words and encouraged me to keep going was so amazing! This story is sort of helping me deal with things I went through in my own real life, so... It's hard sometimes. The emotional part of it, I meant. I believe Calliope asked to see the two admitting their feelings to themselves, that starts **now**.

So this is the SECOND part in a multi part chapter... Yes, I'm an asshole. I'm sorry, but this makes it more fun for me :). This one is split into three distinct parts, I've seperated them to make it neater. There is LANGUAGE (thank you Cap, and yes, I'm sorry)

;p Anyway, this chapter is also a cliffhanger. But I'm going to post the third half to it soon I swear!

I love you guys!

A

* * *

 _I should've known these walls would cave in_  
I should've never left my heart there on the line  
'Cause when the shit hit the fan  
 _All we ever had ended up lost in the fire_

"Wait, what do you mean you think he's following her, Pietro?" Natasha asked as she eyed the phone in her hand in concern. Clint's head snapped up and he signed across the room asking if they needed to go home. She signed back that she didn't know and then asked Pietro, "What did he say?"

Pietro hit play on the answering machine and replayed the messages as he paced the Barton – Romanoff kitchen and swore in Sokovian, checked out the window just to make sure Anastasia hadn't gone far. She was still walking around the back yard at the time, pacing and swearing. As long as she was in his immediate sights, he knew she was safe and that he could get to her fast… Or as fast as he could, considering his speed hadn't fully returned, he was still healing from the aftermath of being shot and almost dying in Sokovia.

Natasha growled angrily, swearing in Russian as Clint eyed her, waiting anxiously. They were in the middle of a mission but you bet your ass if they needed to get to their daughter, then nothing was going to stop them. To hell with orders when their family was concerned.

"Do we need to come home?"

"I wanted to tell you that I did as you asked and I found out why she's been acting like she's afraid and barely leaving the house. He has not come here yet. But I don't have a good feeling." Pietro answered the question honestly.

He peeked out the curtains just in time to see Anastasia climbing up the tree and into the treehouse. He couldn't help but watch her body, he licked his lips, she was slow and deliberate and graceful. He mentally punched himself over thinking those things about her, and Natasha said quietly, "We should be finished here and on our way back in an hour tops. And when I see her, I swear to God I am going to crawl her ass… Keeping this from us."

"She did not want her family to get hurt. I think that the asshole may have been threatening you all." Pietro answered as he dragged his hand slowly through his hair and paced the kitchen, watching that window over the kitchen sink like a hawk. He saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, and he told Natasha and Clint that he'd call back and hung up.

Right as he made it to the area of the large backyard where the tree with the treehouse was located, he heard the sound of a car taking off at full speed. And he didn't think, he just ran to the treehouse. His heart was in his throat, his stomach was sort of twisting into anxious knots.

He climbed up the ladder and peered inside, already dreading what he got the distinct feeling he was going to find… That the treehouse was empty and Anastasia was gone. When he did find that, he punched at one of the walls on the side and swore in Sokovian.

Anastasia's cell phone started to ring next to his feet and he bent to pick it up.

"Ana?" Natasha asked, crossing her fingers as Clint listened in anxiously. They'd just finished the quick recon mission they'd been sent to do and with Pietro's words still fresh in her mind and weighing on her, she'd called Anastasia the second they were back on board the carrier and headed back to the Avengers compound.

Pietro answered angrily, "She's gone. And I am going to kill him."

"What do you mean she's gone, Speedy?" Clint interjected, growling and punching at the side of the carrier, looking at Natasha and then at Fury as he said through gritted teeth, "This, Fury. This is exactly why we wanted the kid looked into by SHIELD when she bought him home last year."

"There was protocol in place then, Barton."

"Protocol my fucking ass." Clint said as Natasha nodded in agreement and then said "We aren't taking any more missions Fury, not until our child is back home and safe. Are we clear?"

"And you have my help, Agent Romanoff." Fury said simply as he dialed the number of Maria Hill and got her to start compiling a background on this kid Davey that Natasha and Clint had approached him about looking into on numerous occasions before.

"He must have been hiding in the woods and waiting on her to go out alone…" Natasha mused aloud as she and Clint paced around the aircraft, exchanging worried glances, Clint threatening to send every single asset that the Avengers had down on Davey's head and Natasha shaking her head as she said calmly, "I'm going to get the honors. Just me and you." as she turned her attention back to Pietro's call and tried to also listen to Fury's conversation with Maria. If there was any dirt to be found on this guy, Maria would find it, that much Natasha knew for certain.

"We're going to get her back, Nat. We're also going to kill this kid, so help me god. Pietro, could you tell which direction they went? Because that road that runs past the farmhouse has about three different and way lesser travelled back roads into town. If he took one, he might be hiding her close by."

"She shouldn't have went out there. We were arguing and she stormed away. I went to stop her but she ignored me and kept going." Pietro explained in a dull tone, pacing the kitchen, swearing, punching things, blaming himself and also really wanting to get his hands on this ex of Ana's. When Clint mentioned the back roads, he thought back to which way the car went and then he told Clint that he was going to try and look for Anastasia, that Wanda and Laura were upstairs with Laura's kids, he'd made them go up after he got that bad feeling earlier when Davey called the first time.

He blamed himself for this, if he'd only grabbed Anastasia and forcibly made her stay in the house… If he hadn't let his own anger get the best of him and in turn let her walk out the door of the house alone….

"She's a headstrong kid, Pietro." Clint explained as he took the phone and talked to Pietro about everything he did remember leading up to Anastasia's being taken. He could tell that Pietro was taking this hard, but he kept the thought to himself, more focused on finding his kid at the moment than anything. "What the hell were you thinking, Speedy, letting her out of your sight? Were you not guarding her like I asked? It was one job, kid." Clint asked, Natasha nodding in agreement. Both were in the heat of the moment, angrier than hell.

Pietro took a few deep breaths and his jaw clenched. He didn't blame them for being furious. They'd only asked him to guard their daughter. And she'd gotten kidnapped. And yes, it was his fault… But currently, he was in the grips of blaming himself and his own anger at the situation.

"And I was."

"Then how the hell did she get taken, huh? Aliens?" Natasha snapped before hanging up, Fury shaking his head and trying to diffuse the situation. She turned and looked at Fury and snapped, "And you. If you'd let us look into this little prick! Both of you are the reason she's not at home waiting."

Clint grabbed Natasha quickly because he saw the tells, the clenching of her fists and he took her outside to calm down. Natasha, however, proceeded to throw one hell of a fit. She picked up a garbage can outside the loading dock of the compound and threw it and managed to ground out through gritted teeth, "I'm going to choke this little bastard… Actually, I'm going to do more than choke him. I could kill Pietro right now though. It was one damn job."

"Me too. We have to stay calm though."

"Screw calm. I want to kill the little bastard that took her. And if Maria actually turns up anything that gives me a valid reason, Clint, I swear to God..."

"We'll both be going. Not just you, babe." Clint hugged Natasha and his lips grazed the top of her head as he resisted the urge to just go to the farmhouse and throttle Speedy.

"Should we bring the others into this?"

"We might have to, Natasha. We'll see if Maria and Fury turn anything up on the kid first and then decide which way to go." Clint reassured Natasha as he tried to keep himself calm. One of them had to stay calm.

It wasn't working.

All he could think about was his daughter being out there somewhere with that little son of a bitch he'd hated from the word go.

* * *

Pietro stormed up the stairs and knocked on Wanda's bedroom door. Once she'd opened the door, he stated calmly and angrily, "I'm going after her. Fury will not pick up his phone. And it is my fault she walked out there alone."

"Pietro, that is not a good idea. I will come too."

"You're staying."

He went into his room and threw clothing into a bag and he stopped for a few seconds, looked at a picture of Anastasia hanging in the hallway. His finger trailed over the glass on the top of the photograph and he mumbled something to himself in Sokovian about how whoever had her was going to regret taking her.

And then he found the keys to Anastasia's car tucked in the visor. Anastasia had been teaching him how to drive, he'd gotten his American license recently with her help…. She'd been doing this in rare moments when they weren't fighting.

He was glad that she had now, because he could get a head start while everyone else was standing around with their thumb up their asses. It was his fault she'd been taken, after all.

He owed Clint and Natasha this much.

And yes, he was doing this for himself too, there was no actual sense in denying it now… Not when the realization of just what his feelings for Anastasia Barton really were when he'd climbed up into that tree house and found her gone, found her red and black cell phone laying there, ringing.

* * *

Anastasia shivered. It was cold, damp. People were talking in angry whispers all around her, some of it was Russian and thanks to her adoptive mother teaching her Russian, she caught the jist of it. Davey was just supposed to _threaten_ to take her, not actually bring her back here where it could be traced back to them.

They weren't _ready for that yet_ , their final phase in some plan that they had wasn't in place yet.

"And you're certain it was Maximoff watching her?" one of the men, Luken, asked a thick accent similar to Pietro's.

"The guy is not hard to mistake, okay? Look, I wanted to teach her a lesson about leaving me. Fuck your stupid plans. This is about me and her!" Davey snapped as he flipped over something, it fell to the floor, things clattering metallic and making Anastasia's ears ring.

Luken nudged him and nodded in Anastasia's direction. "The little bitch is awake."

Davey walked over, sitting down in a chair, the chair's back to his chest as he lit up a cigarette and asked quietly, "You're feeling okay, right?"

Anastasia smirked as she bought her head forward and headbutted Davey in the nose. If she was going to have a headache, damn it all, he was too. She was sick and tired of being afraid, of being made the victim by him.

And adrenaline has often made people do really, really stupid things…

"Fuck you." Anastasia snapped through gritted teeth.

"Oh so you want to now, huh? What's the matter? Speed demon only last three seconds?"

If Anastasia's hands hadn't been tied, she'd have sent a left hook smashing into Davey's nose. She happened to see it then, the insignia on his sleeve. "You're…." she muttered in shock as everything came crashing down on her at once. Davey was one of them, Davey was the enemy.

He'd been using her to get to her parents from the sound of the argument she'd overheard upon awakening. "You fucking snake in the grass. I hope they kill you when they find you. I hope this entire god damn organization burns."

"Surprise? Yeah, I didn't mean for you to find out this way, sweetheart. I really didn't want any of this to happen, babe, you gotta believe me. As far as burning? Why do you wanna be so mean, babe… We had a good time, didn't we? You loved me so much… It was pathetic, really, how little it took to make you fall. But it was so damn adorable… The things I could make you do." Davey flicked ash from his cigarette as he eyed her and leaned in, attempting to kiss her. He came away with a bloody lower lip and Anastasia spit at him.

"You bitch!" his hand made contact with her cheek.

"If you touch any of them, Davey, I swear to God, I'll..."

Davey and his friends all doubled over in laughter and Anastasia squirmed angrily against her restraints. _Hell of a time for my fight and fire to return_ , she mused to herself as she thought of the thousands of ways she was going to completely fuck them over if and when she got loose...


	7. I Know You're Home III

NOTES:

Wow! I've gotten 5 reviews (special shoutout to Calliopes Scribe, her words as always were kind and I just wanted to hug her when she left the reviews that she has left thus far. Also to Tiger Pansy, I love you so much for taking the time to review and leave me a suggestion and tell me you couldn't wait to read the next part! I'm honored you liked it so much! I hope you like this part! I think that I had at least half of the Avengers in this chapter too, there will be more in the one to follow this one! God I hope nobody's horribly OOC!) and to my two guest reviewers, I love you guys so much, that you left kind words and encouraged me to keep going was so amazing!

So this is the THIRD part in a multi part chapter... Yes, I'm an asshole. I'm sorry, but this makes it more fun for me :). This one is split into three distinct parts, I've seperated them to make it neater. There is LANGUAGE (thank you Cap, and yes, I'm sorry) and Pietro having a temper tantrum.

;p Anyway, this chapter is also a cliffhanger. But I'm going to post the fourth half to it soon I swear!

I love you guys!

A

* * *

 _I should've known these walls would cave in_  
I should've never left my heart there on the line  
'Cause when the shit hit the fan  
 _All we ever had ended up lost in the fire_

"Are you sure this guy's name was Davey Gallagher?" Maria asked her friend and fellow agent as she sat down in the chair next to Natasha's at the kitchen table in the farmhouse. Natasha looked up from her sixth cup of coffee and eyed Maria.

Clint, Tony, Wanda and Vision walked in the backdoor, Clint rushed into the kitchen and asked through gritted teeth, "Well?"

"Are you both sure that Davey Gallagher was the name of this guy Anastasia was seeing?" Maria asked Clint. Clint nodded to the file and asked, "What did you find?" as he eyed the file sitting unopened on the table.

"I'll let you two look at it." Maria answered as she poured herself another cup of coffee and then walked over to ask Wanda if she'd managed to get into contact with Pietro because he'd stopped answering his Shield issued cell phone and he'd cut it off, voiding any way they had of tracking him.

Wanda shook her head and quietly nodded to the other room.

"He went to find her because he blames himself. They fought, she stormed out to think. I know that Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff think it's all his fault and while I don't entirely blame them, it scares me that Pietro isn't attempting contact with anyone. It's not like him."

Maria nodded and then said quietly, "We have Sharon tracing the phone's last location. As soon as you know, we'll know. If he calls you, Wanda, call me or Fury. He isn't up to full capacity, he should not have went off alone like this."

"Understood."

"But I have a suspicion as to why he might have." Maria offered, Wanda nodding quietly. "It's probably for the best if we do not mention it, especially not right now." Wanda whispered quietly. Maria nodded in agreement.

"Try to call your brother again. Maybe he found her."

Wanda eyed Natasha and Natasha nodded to the landline phone.

"He lost her the first time, Nat." Clint started. Natasha turned the page in the folder in front of her and saw the photograph and obituary from a small town newspaper in Minnesota. Apparently, this David Jonathan Gallagher had been killed in a car accident the year before he would have enrolled in college with Anastasia, he'd been set to go to for two scholarships, one for Athletics and one for Science.

"This isn't him."

"It has to be, Natasha."

"That is not the little shit our daughter bought home." Clint nodded to the photo and then said "I'd have loved it if that were the guy but no. Not the guy."

"This guy looked a little… He looked crazier. It was the eyes." Natasha said as she nodded to the photo in front of her and then said "And he was not brown haired. Or muscular. He had bright blond hair and gray eyes. His eyes always looked hollow. Something just didn't look right about him." Natasha finished as she took another sip of her coffee.

"He's not answering his phone. It is still off."

"He better find her." Clint muttered to himself.

"We can go into town and try there." Steve suggested as Tony nodded and said quietly, "I normally do not agree with Capsicle on anything but this time what he says makes sense… Natasha, Steve and I will take Clint into town."

"I will take the Vision and we will go and search the forest again." Thor stated as he stood and sat his third cup of coffee into the sink. Sam stood and then said "Bruce and I will try to get ahold of Rhodes again… See if he'll try and run a track on the house line just in case someone calls."

Natasha sat there feeling totally powerless. This did not sit well at all with her, there had to be something she could do other than sit by the phone. But she was determined to wait, to be there the second the child she'd adopted and loved and raised as her own called their house… Because if there was one thing she did know about her daughter it was that if Anastasia got a way to call them, she would.

And she'd want to hear at least one of her parents voices on the other end of the line when she did.

"I'll sit here with you." Maria offered.

"If the guy she's bought back here isn't Davey, Maria, who the hell is he?"

"Well, I thought you'd ask me that.. So I took the liberty of pulling all the college security footage that they had with Anastasia on it." Maria took out her laptop and plugged it in, hitting play on the college's security feed.

They started to watch hours and hours worth of security footage and about halfway into the second hour, Natasha jumped up in her seat and quickly grabbed the mouse, pausing it.

"The guy in the leather jacket leaning against the lamp post. That's him. Can you zoom that in?"

Maria zoomed in as close as she could and she attached the file to an email. She texted the email to Sharon and told her that they'd gotten a facial ID on the actual Davey.

"And now we wait, huh?"

"And now we wait."

* * *

The phone rang in the empty passenger seat of Anastasia's Mustang and Pietro popped his neck to get a crick out of it. He knew that the busboy at Anastasia's job hadn't ever really given him a good feeling, the guy had always seemed to watch Anastasia too much, he'd always seemed to have her exact work schedule and a time or two, Pietro had seen him lurking around her car when he was sitting and waiting on her to get off from a night shift.

In short, Pietro was going with his gut instinct and his gut instinct told him that the bus boy in this little diner knew more than he was telling. And he was determined to sit here and wait until the guy eventually came in from work. Beyond that, he hadn't planned out what exactly he'd do if the guy actually showed up and he got a chance to get his hands on him.

And just as the digital clock screen on Anastasia's cd player hit 9, he saw the guy walking across the parking lot, smoking a cigarette, hands jammed into his pockets.

"If I get out now… he will run." Pietro mumbled to himself as he palmed the sterling silver half moon necklace that he'd dfound beside her phone on the floor of the tree house and bought with him, that he'd hung from Anastasia's rearview mirror and shoved it into the pocket of his pants. Maybe having it with him would be like a token of good luck. He thought about her, sitting in the passenger seat one day last week, a rarer moment when they'd been getting along. The way she'd laughed and rolled her eyes at something he'd said. He'd been trying to make her argue with him.. If he kept the necklace then when he found her, he could put it back where it belonged, where it normally was, around her neck.

That's what he was hoping for, at least. His Shield issued phone rang again and he glanced at the number on the screen. He'd turned it back on just in case someone called to say that she was home. It wasn't the home number but it was Clint's personal cell phone number so Pietro felt his heart rate picking up, he felt his hopes rising just a little.

"What?"

"Where the hell are you, Speedy?"

"I'm going to find her, Barton. If you are not calling to tell me she is safe then you are wasting your time. This is my fault." Pietro replied as he hung up the phone and killed the car's engine, getting out quickly and stealthily. He waited until the late night crowd made their way in from a little hole in the wall club down the street and he blended.

He took the back booth in the diner and pretended to read the menu while he planned out his next move... He got the chance to get the bus boy alone when he saw the guy grabbing his jacket and walking out the side door and into an alley beside the diner about an hour later. And he stood and walked out the door to confront the bus boy.

* * *

"The kid just fucking hung up on me!" Clint growled in frustration as he looked at the phone in his hand. Tony asked Clint, "Didn't you say she worked at that little diner on the main street of this place?"

"Yeah.. She'd gotten tonight off."

"We didn't find her, Clint.. But I did find Speedy." Tony nodded to the Mustang that Clint's daughter drove, it was parked in the back row of the diner's parking lot. Clint nodded and Tony pulled in next to it.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Clint wondered.

They didn't have to wait long for their answer because the fight broke out in the alley almost literal seconds and they heard Sokovian swearing accompanied by someone shouting repeatedly, "I don't know nothing man, I swear to God."

Clint ran over with Tony and Steve and Wanda in tow and they managed to grab hold of Pietro finally, but Pietro kept a death grip on the other guy's throat. "He knows something."

"Do you know what happened to my kid, punk?"

"I don't know nothing, man. All I was supposed to do was watch her for somebody. He said that he was worried about her, that she'd ran away from home and she was his sister or something… That he just wanted to make sure she was okay." the kid defended himself.

Pietro eyed the bus boy warily and Clint said in a firm tone, "Let the kid go, Speedy, he's turning purple."

Pietro let go of the hold he had on the bus boy's shirt collar and let him land hard on his ass on the ground.

"This guy.. Did he give you a name?"

"Said his name was Gallagher… David or Donnie or something, shit, I don't know… Just don't kill me, please?"

"We're going to make the kid piss himself. Let's just take him back to the compound.. If he knows anything else he'll spill it when Fury gets his hands on him."

"He would have spilled it for me if you hadn't stopped me." Pietro grumbled angrily, arms crossed. The guy stepped up in his face and Pietro bowed up at him and the guy cowered slightly, he was shorter and much less more physically imposing than Pietro.

"I think I'm gonna throw up."

Tony glared as the kid doubled over and barfed all over his Converses. "These were my special pair."

"Seriously, Stark? You're worried about your fucking shoes right now? Let's get this little prick back to the compound. I'm going to call Natasha and let her know that we might have somet.." Clint's words died on his lips as the phone rang in his hand.

"Clint, we found the guy. Maria's getting Sharon to look at the footage and id him from that now." Natasha said excitedly. "Why do you sound out of breath?" she asked. Clint explained calmly, "Because me and the guys and Wanda found Speedy… Beating the living shit out of a guy Anastasia works with. He said he had a hunch that the guy would know something. We're taking the guy to the compound now."

"I'm going to find her." Pietro insisted stubbornly.

"Get your ass in that car and follow us. That is an order."

"Pietro, come with us! It is dangerous, to go after her on your own."

"Your sister is right." Clint pointed out as he gave the Sokovian male a raised brow. Pietro shook his head and went to get in the car and Tony told Clint, "You go with Speedy."

"I will go too. He is my brother."

"You can come with us, Wanda… I think your particular talents are better used here." Steve muttered as Tony nodded in agreement.

"Tell Natasha I'll be home soon."

"You two call for help if you need it, damn it. We're a team, that's what we're here for." Tony stated as Steve nodded in agreement.

"Nat is going to murder him when she finds out he went off with Pietro to find Anastasia without her." Steve mused as they all got into Tony's car and pulled out into traffic. Tony nodded and then said "Someone has to stay close to the phone there though. I mean this kid can't have just taken her for the random hell of it." Tony said as he eyed Wanda and their person of interest in the rearview. "Think you can get in his melon and play around, kid?"

Wanda nodded quietly, turning her full attention to the male sitting next to her as Steve spoke up and then asked, "What if he really doesn't know anything?"

"Oh, I think he does." Tony eyed the squirming male beside Wanda in the backseat with a g rim look.

"I don't!"

"If you're lying, kid and you know more than what you told us, god help you when Anastasia's mother finds out." Steve commented casually.

* * *

Anastasia worked her wrists against the rope again. She was starting to feel the rope cutting and digging into her skin but she was determined NOT to be here whenever Davey and the other guys with him came back into the room.

If she was, she was determined to be the one with the upper hand. If she could just get her wrists untied and get her hands on the knife laying on the wooden table near the chair she was tied to presently. She growled in frustration beneath the gag that Davey had shoved into her mouth before leaving the room the first time, after she'd bitten the living hell out of his lip when he tried to force her to kiss him.

" _What would Mom do?"_ she wondered to herself as she laughed bitterly against the gag… That answer was simple. Her mother never would have been this fucking stupid. She never would have fallen for the hard luck story Davey gave in the first place. She wouldn't have stayed through all that Anastasia had either. And she damn sure would not have stormed out on the guy she really loved in a childish fit of anger and gotten herself snatched up and hauled off to only God knew where. _"You're such an idiot, Ana. The biggest idiot in the history of idiots."_

She felt a little blood trickling from her wrists and she stopped and let her wrists stop burning and stinging. She needed a little break. But she knew she was probably on borrowed time so she knew she couldn't take long, either…

The thing that baffled her the most was that she kept hearing him, that thick Sokovian accent, the way he was always making statements and taunting her to piss her off and get a rise out of her. She bit into the gag and took a deep breath as she started trying to wiggle her wrists free again….

 _'You'll survive, Anastasia. Just keep your focus. Do not give up or then he's really won. Focus on getting the hell out of the ropes and the gag and then the rest will come. You have to figure out why Hydra sent the guy in to get close to you to begin with… That has to be what this whole thing was, right?'_ she thought to herself as she continued to try everything she could to get herself out of the predicament she was in currently.


	8. I Know You're Home IIII

NOTES:

Okay so I want to cry right now, in a good way. I cannot believe that the story is actually liked as well as it is. And everyone's kind words, oh man. I haven't ever really thought I was a great writer and I really didn't think people would even read this when I posted it on here too but I have seven reviews and 11 follows and three faves and I am overjoyed right now. I thank all of you from the absolute depths of my heart and I just hope you guys continue to enjoy this. Sorry there hasn't been much romance. But it's coming, I promise.

I'm probably going to ignore Civil War for this. The thought of the team splitting up just makes me super antsy. I think I might do an alternate thing where they're all focused on taking down Hydra instead.

As per requests, I've been putting in more of the Avengers into my chapters. I'm so glad you guys like this. So glad.

This is the FOURTH part of that multi part chapter. I love dragging this out but I swear.. In the next chapter, she will be getting rescued. I know, I know, you guys are all About damn time... But this is not the last of Hydra. Trust me. Anyway, I thank every single one of you who reviewed and followed or favorited this. It means the universe to me. Or are galaxies bigger, hmmm...

Love you all,

A

* * *

 _I should've known these walls would cave in_  
I should've never left my heart there on the line  
'Cause when the shit hit the fan  
 _All we ever had ended up lost in the fire_

"Wait… What the hell do you mean Clint isn't with you, Tony?" Natasha demanded, letting out a low and angry growl. Tony bristled at the tone in Natasha's voice and Steve explained calmly, "We ran into Pietro."

"And? Where the hell is my man, Cap? What does Pietro have to do with Clint not being with you?" Natasha asked as she paced the kitchen of the Barton farmhouse, hand in her red hair, swearing and stopping once in a while to kick whatever was close by.

Thor was going to make a move to calm her down, Bruce shook his head no quietly and Sam explained carefully, "Not a good idea, Odinson. Not a good idea at all."

"Pietro wouldn't come back… He's got it in his head that he's going to find Anastasia. Clint went with him."

"Those idiots. Does Fury know? Or is he just sitting back with his thumb still up his ass?" Natasha was furious now, she wanted to go with Clint to save their daughter. Not Pietro. She was still angry that Pietro had been the one 'watching' Anastasia when Anastasia was taken.

"He knows now… And he's not happy about it at all. He got Wanda and Vision briefed and ready to go, Sharon's probably going to go with them."

"So he's sending all the rookies out… I'm her mother, damn it."

"And that's exactly why he said you needed to stay put, Nat." Steve spoke calmly, holding the phone away from his ear. Maria winced when she saw Natasha put her fist to a wall and growl angrily for probably the twentieth time since the call began. "Well, what did you find out from that kid Pietro got hold of at the diner?"

"Just that Ana's ex had him 'watching' her. That he told the kid a lot of lies and made him believe that Anastasia ran away from home to be with Pietro and their father was concerned, so was he. Clint set that one straight when he busted the kids nose before he and Pietro took off."

"God damn it."

"Fury wants you to stay there because he seems to think there is more to this than just an ex who won't let go. He thinks that you need to be there in case Anastasia somehow manages to get away or someone calls." Tony explained, taking the phone from Steve.

Steve walked back over to the kid tied to a chair and Wanda smirked as she said quietly, " Thanks to the things in his mind… I know why Davey might have been using a false identity."

"Why?"

"In one of the memories I saw and possibly manipulated to scare him into telling what he's not telling, Agent… This Davey person had the Hydra insignia on the sleeve of his jacket. He also has it tattooed on his calf, the left one. Anastasia wouldn't have seen it because before they sent him in."

"How do you know, I mean this is a new age… Or so I'm told." Steve raked his fingers through his hair and Wanda shrugged as she admitted, "I might have accidentally gotten a glimpse into her mind once or twice. She hasn't ever… You know… Not all the way, I mean. He tried to make her, she refused and busted his nose."

Steve chuckled a little and explained what Wanda had just told him to Tony who relayed it to Natasha.

"Thank God… One of my biggest fears was that she was coming back pregnant and stuck in a nightmare. I mean what's happening now was my biggest nightmare, I just… I never thought her innocence and the way she trusts people a lot easier than most would would be what got her into the situation… I always worried it would be bad blood towards her father and I."

"There is still that possibility, Nat… I mean Wanda told Tony what she saw and he was using the identity and personal information of a dead kid to go to a college."

Natasha grimaced. If Hydra had her daughter… She felt sick to her stomach at the thought. She knew what they were capable of, Steve told her everything they'd done to Bucky, she'd read all the old files before she testified last year…

She was praying for anything but that at this point.

She'd rather it be just simple cut and dried boyfriend who's gone off the deep end. At least that could be handled easily….

–

* * *

Sharon rubbed her eyes. She'd been playing the security footage on a loop against any and all known threats against SHIELD in their known database for almost three hours now. She thought that they'd have found him by now and she was starting to give up.

The machines in front of her started chiming and going haywire and the attached copier/printer/fax began to print off things.

"So let's see who you really are, Davey Gallagher." Sharon mumbled as she stifled a yawn and walked over to the printer. She gaped at the papers in her hand, and she mumbled "Oh… Wow. This cannot be good."

She picked up her phone and dialed Natasha and Clint's home phone number. Natasha needed to know what she'd just found out and she needed to know it about five minutes ago. The longer this was sat on, the more potential for danger lie within for Anastasia.

"Hey, Maria? Give Nat the phone. Now."

"What's up?"

"After I hang up with you I have to go and find Fury. This kid? He's a Hydra op. He's actually the sons of one of the higher ups, a Russian scientist named Vladimir. I have to go and show all this to Fury now. If Barton and Maximoff are trying to find her they're going to need backup." Sharon hung up and raced down the hallway to Fury's office, not even bothering with the formality of knocking before entry.

If what she found meant anything other than this kid being crazy and just taking her because she left him then Anastasia Barton was in a world of serious danger… And it might just not have anything to do with her.

Maria gaped at the phone and watched Natasha arguing from nearby on her Shield issued cell phone. "What's Davey's real identity?"

"Viktor Nikolas Kessler."

"That name… Kessler… Look that up, Sharon, would ya? I'm giving you to Natasha now." Maria walked over and held out the house phone. Natasha took it, eying it warily and Maria said quietly, "You want to take this."

"I don't know. How mad is it going to make me?"  
"How mad are you right now?"

"Invade Russia and burn it to the ground."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Maria said as she walked away to give Natasha privacy. A few seconds later, when the coffee mug that had been in Natasha's hands flew at a wall nearby and shattered, Maria was glad she'd done that very thing.

"Fury has people waiting to go in if Clint and Pietro need backup, right?"

"He does."

"I'm going too. That 's my daughter in there I'm not just sitting here wringing my hands and waiting. If she were going to call she would have by now." Natasha stated as Maria eyed her. Fury specifically told her that both parents present and emotional could compromise the entire situation, but she'd seen Natasha kick people's asses before and she was not sure she wanted to have to fight a woman she considered a longtime best friend.

"Fine. When they head out, we head out."

"Thanks.. I know the protocol and I know Fury will probably have both our asses but I just don't give a damn."

"We're going too."

"Someone needs to be here with the phone."

"Yeah, well… Someone needs to keep you two backed up too. Clint would kill us if something happened to you, Nat." Bruce and Sam insisted, Thor nodding and giving a firm and agreeing look and asking, "And if she calls while you are away, Daughter of Romanoff? Surely, she will want to hear her mother's voice."

"Yeah, well… She will.. Just as soon as I'm done burning the damn location they have her in to the ground. I can handle this. Enough, you guys, I'm going. That's my daughter in there. I don't care that I did not give birth to her… She's… She's mine."

She jammed her hand into her eye and turned her back quickly. The tears were threatening to flow and she was bound and determined that she was not going to break. She'd been up against literal hell in the Red Room…

But none of it prepared her for this ordeal.

–

* * *

He hadn't said a word for the entire drive. He just glared at the road ahead, white knuckled grip on the wheel, foot baring down on the gas pedal.

"There is such a thing as a speed limit, kid. Getting pulled over and arrested for going entirely too fast is only going to give that little bastard who has her even more of a head start."

"A head start he would not have gotten, Barton, if I had not let my anger get away with me and I had done what I was ordered and stopped her from going outside. She just makes me so angry! How can one girl make someone so damned angry they just want to punch a wall?"

Clint raised a brow at Pietro's outburst.

Pietro kept a poker straight face. He knew _exactly_ why Anastasia got to him but he was not about to be an idiot and confess this to her father, especially not right now, not after he'd been careless enough to get so wrapped up in that anger that he'd taken his eyes off of her for exactly long enough for her to be taken by this soon to be dead mysterious ex boyfriend of hers.

He raised a brow when his Shield issued cell phone began to ring. Clint reached over to where it sat in the cup holder and answered it.

It was Clint's turn to raise a brow when he heard a very familiar voice on the other end of the line…

–

* * *

"Is Ana there? Oh no, wait… She's not because I have her." Davey rocked back in the chair he sat in, flicking ashes in an ashtray sitting on the table. He laughed and then added, "So… Going to ride in to her rescue anytime soon, Maximoff? Or is she as expendable to you as she was to me?"

Clint put his hand over the phone so that Davey couldn't hear and then said quietly, "I'm going to call Rhodes and Stark. They have the stuff needed to run a trace. You keep him talking, Speedy. Do not fuck this up."

Pietro nodded. "You are very brave. Stupid but brave… Where is she?"

"Somewhere you're not."

This made Clint blow his top and he growled aloud, "Tell us where the fuck my daughter is, or I swear to God when we find you… And trust me, kid, we will find you.." as he texted Tony and Rhodey the cell phone number to track.

* * *

Tony snapped his fingers and Rhodey began to hurry and hook up their 'borrowed' gear, preparing it to trace the call. He punched the desk when he heard Clint getting angry and Pietro swearing up a storm at Davey's taunts.

"This kid has got a serious pair of brass ones. Too bad he's going to die. Nat's already keen on killing him. Did you know the guy is somehow associated with Hydra? Yeah.." Tony told Rhodey who gaped and then asked, "Did their kid know this guy was Hydra?"

"Ana's a sweet kid. She thought he was a decent guy. Sharon sent the files over, apparently, Hydra sends him in whenever they want to gather intel. Thing is, he didn't get much because Ana was smart enough not to get too close to him on most levels."

"But she's still gonna be hurt."

"Not if we can all get this guy. Not if Clint gets his hands on this guy."

"I meant the damage already done, Stark. You don't just get in something like that and boom you're fine again after." Rhodey said as he watched the map on their computer screens carefully. The signal was bouncing off of several towers, it was hard to pinpoint an exact location.

"Wanna play our favorite game?"

"Which one?" Tony asked.

"Who's the better math guy. Think you can come up with a formula to rule out some of these places?" Rhodey asked as Tony shrugged and then said "We're about to find out, aren't we?"

"Let me see that." Steve took the screen for a moment, brow raised.

"Yeah, let the actual geniuses handle this part, Rogers. You can take a crack at texting Clint to keep the two of them calm so that this little asshole stays on the phone." Tony said as he held out Steve's Shield issued cell phone.

Steve scowled but this one time he did what Tony asked. He wasn't good with computers enough to do what they were attempting yet anyway.

* * *

"Do I hear daddy in the background? So the old man really likes you, huh? Guy hated me. I think the son of a bitch wanted me dead from the second Ana bought me back to the farm." Davey chuckled as he watched Anastasia fighting against her restraints and screaming underneath the gag, the screams were muffled but still loud.

"Do you wanna talk to her?"

"If you hurt my daughter you little son of a bitch… You will die."

"If I were you, sir… I wouldn't tempt me. I'm a lot more powerful than you think. Oh, but wait… You work for Shield too… Correct?"

Clint froze as things fell into place.

Pietro swore and punched the dashboard, they'd pulled into a rest stop to take this call. He glared at the phone in between himself and Clint.

"Who the fuck are you? It won't matter soon because as soon as I find you, kid… You're dead." Clint snapped angrily, signing to Pietro to text Steve back.

Pietro nodded, anger was surging in him right now too.

How did this asshole know so much about them?

"Hey Maximoff… Have you heard her scream yet?"

The dial tone was all there was left.

Exactly 7:59 seconds. One second too short to make a complete and comprehensive trace. Clint and Pietro shared a look and Pietro growled angrily, popping his neck. Clint punched the dashboard and swore.

"This is not good."

"Obviously, Barton."

"I'm gonna call Tony and Steve back. You drive."

The car pulled out onto the road again and Pietro focused on the road and his anger. If he kept focused on the anger, on the determination to find her and bring her back home, then he wouldn't go insane worrying about what could be happening to her right now… _'She is strong, stronger than she realizes. And you will find her. And when you do, maybe you don't pick fights with her so much, Pietro?'_ he thought to himself and decided that when they got to her and got her home safely, he would stop picking fights with her. Instead, he was going to try and be f riends with her and go fr om there.

–

* * *

"I'm gonna take this gag off, Ana. If you bite me again, I swear to God you will not like me." Davey aka Viktor stared down his former girlfriend as he tentatively reached for the gag. Anastasia continued to work her wrists against the ropes… Any second now and she'd have them off and she was going to kick this guy's ass.

Not only for everything he put her through but for the things she now knew about him.

He noticed her squirming, saw the blood dried on her inner wrist and he clucked his tongue and shook his head. "We can't have you escaping on us, baby doll."

"Eat shit and die." Anastasia ground out through tightly gritted teeth. "If you hurt any of them I'll kill you I swear to God. This entire place will burn somehow if it takes me the rest of my life to do it. I don't care. I'll get even."

"Oh we don't want to hurt them… Or I don't. My boss though… He might have different ideas, baby doll." he said as he leaned in, intending to brush her hair out of her eyes. When she recoiled, he gave her an angry look and then he shook his head. "They're not going to find you, you know. Not until it's too late."

 _'They're not going to have to you pathetic piece of shit… Because in a few more minutes I'll have these ties off my wrists and then I'll get out of here myself.'_ Anastasia tried to focus on that, she tr ied to be brave, to come up with a plan just in case they didn't find her in time…

He turned back around to face her and he was holding a needle in his hand. Within seconds of the prick to her soft skin, Anastasia's world went black and her body went limp against the ropes. She was out cold.

Davey left the room and locked the steel door behind him. He smirked as he walked up the hallway and into the lab.

"Did you call them?"

"I did."

"Good..."


	9. I Know You're Home Concluded

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys! Seven reviews and 13/4 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my holidays, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often. So, I decided to go ahead and post another chapter for you guys and... I have another one that I'm almost halfway through writing. Sorry it took a bit to get this one up, I was traveling and had to work too.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING!

This is the END of chapter four. But it too ends on a cliffhanger. There will be plenty of Pietro / Anastasia fluff soon. Sorry there weren't many Avengers present for the rescue, I thought it best to focus on Anastasia's immediate family and Pietro and Wanda. But yes, end of the kidnapping crisis... For now. We may not have seen the last of Vladimir or Davey/Viktor... But I'm not telling (mostly because I have not decided yet.) so haha.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

A

* * *

 _I should've known these walls would cave in_  
I should've never left my heart there on the line  
'Cause when the shit hit the fan  
 _All we ever had ended up lost in the fire_

She came to with a headache and everything felt foggy. Sitting up, Anastasia winced and rubbed her eyes. How long had she been out this time? She felt like she hadn't seen her mom or her dad or her cousins and aunt in years... Was there a way out of this? She was shocked when she sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking around. Her head ached worse than any other time she'd had a headache and she noticed a few things different...

Her wrists weren't bound anymore.

Her feet weren't tied either.

But then she quickly realized why when she turned to her left and saw the floor to ceiling steel bars surrounding her. They'd locked her in a cell of some sort.

"She's awake."

"Yes, I noticed."

'Davey' approached the cage and asked quietly, "Have a good nap, baby doll?"

"Stellar, asshole. If you think this cage is going to keep me..." Anastasia threatened. The threat was hollow, it died on her lips. She'd lost track of how long she'd been missing by now and it just felt dire. The longer she was trapped here, with him…

She was losing hope.

"Guess who I talked to earlier?"

"If you get them here and hurt them, I swear to God." Anastasia threatened, again it was an idle threat and again, it made the blond male standing outside the cage laugh.

Ana sprang up groggily. She might not be able to get out yet but she could get her hands around his throat from her side of the cage and damn it, that was the only thing that was going to make her feel even a little bit better at this rate, choking him until he turned blue.

She stood in front of him.

"You could just offer yourself up. Let my boss handle what happens to you. An eye for an eye, ya know." Davey said as he looked at Anastasia for a few seconds.

"I'd rather die."

"That works for me too. But first…. Maybe if we show you what we have in store for you… By using the people you care about most."

He nodded to the door and the solemn faced guard opened it.

Her mother and father, her aunt and her nieces and nephews were lead in…. Pietro was lead in last.

Anastasia came alive in the cage, swearing and crying and screaming. How the hell had they gotten her family?

"Please… Just don't hurt them."

"Was that you surrendering, baby doll? Because it didn't sound convincing to me."

"I'll do whatever you want… Just don't hurt my family… Or Pietro."

He approached the guard and whispered into the man's ear, "I knew this idea was a good one. She doesn't have a clue that they're not real, that they're people using some of the same technology that Shield used to trick us."

He glanced back at Anastasia and said solemnly, "Take them back to their cells. I'm going to talk to Anastasia about the terms of her surrender." giving the illusion that yes, her worst fears were confirmed. He had gotten to everyone she loved... Including Pietro Maximoff, even if she was too afraid to admit that beyond admitting it to herself.

* * *

It had been almost a week and a half. They'd been chasing down a trail that Tony and Rhodey helped them put together and so far, nothing. It was as if this Davey -who they since found out was actually the son of a Hydra scientist named Viktor.- and Anastasia had dropped from the face of the earth.

Clint and Pietro were beginning to get more and more frustrated by the moment. They'd just left an abandoned warehouse in the vicinity of one of the pings the cell phone made during that last call made by Davey when the cell phone rang again.

Pietro picked it up because Clint was in the bathroom at a gas station.

"Hey there, Speed demon." Davey smirked as he reclined in the leather chair behind his desk. He stared at a photograph of Anastasia for a few seconds, smirking and laughing to himself.

"Where is she?"

Before Davey could answer, a scream cut through the background noise and that scream made Pietro want to throw up everything he'd not been able to eat but made himself eat earlier just to have energy and something in his stomach.

"If you hurt her you're dead. I'll kill you with my bare hands." Pietro growled. Clint came out of the bathroom and saw Pietro on the phone, Pietro waved his hands and mouthed who it was and Clint called Tony and walked away quietly, he was going to get coordinates for the pings from this phone call. He mouthed to Pietro to keep Davey talking if he could and Pietro nodded, turned his attention back to the call.

"You think so, Speed demon? You really think so? Why don't you come on and try it? If you can find me, of course." Davey snapped with a laugh. Pietro snapped back in a pretend confident tone "We are. We are on our way to you right now, actually."

"You think so, huh?"

"I know so. Your luck is out." Clint growled from the background just as he hung up with Tony and Rhodey and smirked as he held out the paper.

"You did it. Ya kept him talking long enough this time to get an actual location. Tony's en route now with Steve."

"What about Agent Romanoff."

"Fury will try to stop her but I have this feeling that come hell or high water, Natasha will be there too." Clint answered as Pietro nodded and then eyed the paper for a few moments.

Seattle… They'd taken Anastasia to Seattle when they moved hideouts for a second time since all this began. The previous two times Clint and Pietro had gotten there just after they'd left with Anastasia, they'd literally just missed a chance to get her back.

This time though… This time, they were getting her back. Pietro kept going over the call in his mind, wincing when he heard Anastasia's screams in the background. What were they doing to her? Had they hurt her?

"I vill kill them all."

Clint called Natasha and said in a rush, "Officially, babe, I'm not supposed to be telling you this because Fury thinks you need to sit this one out, stay there with the phones. But unofficially, babe… She's in Seattle and if you leave now and go to the compound, Fury cannot stop you from going with the team because he's still in a meeting." as Natasha hung up the phone and smirked.

"And we're on the move. They finally got an exact location." Natasha called up the stairs to Wanda and Maria. Wanda took a few deep breaths. She'd just finished reading the text her brother sent to her. She turned to Vision and they shared a look quietly. "My brother thinks that they have hurt her… Or that they are going to."

"And we know what will happen."

"If my brother doesn't kill this person, Agents Barton and Romanoff will." Wanda answered as Vision nodded and then said quietly, "We should all be careful. This could very well be a trap."

"Trap or not, they know where she is."

Anastasia watched in horror as the guard tormented her family and Pietro right in front of her. She screamed until she was hoarse, and she tried to shut her eyes, to look away, but each time she tried, she couldn't. Davey would come and quietly hold her head so that her eyes saw everything.

"Aww, am I upsetting you, baby doll? You need to see this."

"Stop hurting them! I told you to take me instead! This is all my fault, it should end with me." Anastasia begged as the scientist approached what she thought was her mother and her younger cousins and her aunt.

"STOP IT!"

"Make us, baby doll."

It happened in a matter of seconds and when it did, Anastasia wasn't sure anymore what was real and what was an illusion. The doors on both ends of the room flew open forcefully and a window shattered.

Her father and Pietro were fighting off a group of soldiers and guards on one side and her mother and Wanda were fighting off a group on the other side. Anastasia was confused and badly shocked currently, she'd been in and out of 'drugged illusions' for almost a week now, so she didn't react right off the bat.

When she got the restraints free, she jumped out of her chair and started to make a run for the door because she wasn't entirely sure that what was happening all around her was real or if she were seeing things.

She started to run and she didn't stop until her mother caught hold of her after they'd burned the warehouse to the ground.

"M-mom?"

Natasha caught her daughter before Anastasia fainted on the ground and Clint picked her up and carried her.

"We need to get her back to the compound, to the infirmary and Dr. Cho… Make sure these sick bastards haven't done anything to her." Clint stated as they all entered the carrier craft. Clint laid Anastasia so that her head was on his lap and her feet were on her mother's lap and she slept…

Pietro sat quietly on the other side of the carrier looking at the sterling silver necklace in his hand. He'd wait until she woke up and they were alone to return her necklace. Wanda and Vision sat down on either side of him and Vision said quietly, "She'll be okay. We got her out of there, that is the important thing."

"She'd better be okay or I vill find them all and kill them." Pietro mumbled as Wanda gave her brother's hand a reassuring squeeze….


	10. Comfort

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys! Eight reviews and 13/4 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my holidays, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often. So, I decided to go ahead and post another chapter for you guys and... I have another one that I'm almost halfway through writing. Sorry it took a bit to get this one up, I was traveling and had to work too.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING!

And this chapter is a lot of friendly fluff between Pietro and Anastasia. I t ried not to rush into things as I want to give it a sloooow burn. Hope that's not a discouragement to anyone reading, the slow burn factor. Those just seem to be my kind of thing. I love writing them. :)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING ONE!

A

* * *

The screams woke Pietro from a nap. He tore through the bathroom separating Anastasia's bedroom from Wanda's, - _he'd taken it over when the team got called out on a mission, just to be closer so he'd know Anastasia was safe_ \- and he flicked on the light as he started checking everywhere for anything, anyone.

"They were hurting them… I can't.. Every time I try to go to sleep I see it all over again, that illusion." Anastasia felt herself being pulled into Pietro's arms, held against him. Lack of sleep and the horrible images replaying themselves over and over again in her mind had her defenses down. It felt safe.. Not the kind of safe as her father and her mother, but it felt safe all the same. A different kind of safe.

"What illusion?"

"He had guards somehow make themselves look like my aunt and my cousins and my mom and dad… And you."

Pietro raised a brow.

"You're my friend too.. I care about you, okay? And my mom and dad never should have made you play bodyguard." Anastasia said quietly as she reluctantly moved away a little, looked up at him. Pietro smoothed some hair that hung in her eyes out again and then asked quietly, "What did he have them do after?"

"He made it seem as if he were… I can't talk about it, okay?" Anastasia shook her head, dropping her eyes to the red and black plaid comforter on the bed. She took a few deep breaths and Pietro explained quietly, "As you can see, Ana… I am alright. And so are your mother and father and your aunt and cousins. We are all alright."

"I know, I just… It's one of my worst fears, okay?"

He nodded. As someone who'd lived through his own worst fears, twice… he knew how it felt afterward when your mind replayed everything.

He still saw himself narrowly escaping death and he relived his parents dying almost every other night even though it had happened years ago. So he knew how Anastasia felt.

She leaned against him, he kept his arms around her, it was tentative, wary at best. But Pietro felt his heart rate speeding a little. He smoothed his hands over her hair, tucking fallen strands behind her ear. He started to hum the song that he remembered his mother singing to him and to Wanda when they had nightmares before they lost their parents in the bombing.

Anastasia relaxed in his awkward embrace and leaned against him, yawning a little. "What are you humming?"

"It is a song that my mother used to sing to Vanda and I." Pietro answered quietly. "You need to sleep, prin- I meant Anastasia." Pietro stopped himself quickly, using her first name instead. He'd been about to call her princess.

He didn't want to make anything uncomfortable.

At the same time, there was the pull to her, the magnetism he'd felt towards Anastasia in the beginning.

It was getting stronger.

"I don't want to, okay? Every single time I close my eyes tonight it's like I see it all happening all over a gain, all the different ways it could have went badly." Anastasia muttered as she moved away from Pietro just a little.

She felt this pull towards him. She had since shortly after they met.

It only got stronger when he wasn't being a jerk or an ass and he was doing thing, sweet things like this.

If she wasn't careful, she thought to herself, she might just wind up falling again.

And falling was something she did not want to do, ever again.

"It didn't. Ve are all still alive and vell. You need sleep."

"I'll never get back to sleep tonight. Just go to bed.. I'll go downstairs and try to find a movie on or something." Anastasia insisted as Pietro shook his head.

"Ve vill both sleep. I vill go and get my pillow. I can sleep on the floor."

"You don't have to..."

"I know I don't have to. I vant to… Because I know how it feels." Pietro explained quietly. Anastasia nodded quietly and then said "Fine. But at least let me get you an air mattress?"

Pietro gave a smirk and nodded. "You can do that."

Anastasia slid off her bed and made her way down the hallway to a closet, digging around. She found the air mattress that she used on family camping trips in it's box and the air pump that aired it up and when she turned around, she found herself chest to bare chest with Pietro.

"Sorry, I… I thought you were still in my room."

"I came out here. Thought I heard something downstairs."

Anastasia's eyes widened and Pietro explained, "I vent down to check and it vas nothing." quickly. Anastasia took a breath or two and nodded.

"You're sure, right?"

"I am positive, Ana."

Her heart skipped a beat or two when he called her Ana instead of her full first name.

"I got it… You don't have to do this, Pietro."

"I know, Ana. I vant to." Pietro insisted again as he gave a friendly smile. Anastasia smiled a little as she and Pietro made their way back down the darkened hallway and into her room. She blew up the air mattress and grabbed a red and navy blue plaid comforter similar to hers from the closet in the hallway.

Pietro settled into the air mattress and lie there just listening for a while. He heard the light snoring begin and he snickered to himself in the darkness. "Good night, printsessa." he muttered before finally giving sleep a chance himself.

–

* * *

"What the hell do you mean she got away?"

"Her father and mother, Dad, do you have any idea who the hell they were?" Davey snapped as he glared at the picture of her in his hand.

"I gave you one job, son. You were supposed to get to know her, gain her trust. It would have been killing two birds with one stone. One job!"

Davey winced at his father's angry tone. If his father was angry with him it wasn't going to be pretty when he got back to the compound and they discussed what they'd do now that one plan had been completely destroyed.

And their bosses were not going to be happy with this, not at all….


	11. Friendship

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys!Nine reviews and 14/5 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my holidays, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often. So, I decided to go ahead and post another chapter for you guys and...

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING!

More flirting and friendly fluff between Pietro and Anastasia. I thought it would be cute to write a Christmas (pre Christmas in the case of the story) themed chapter, and it's a late Christmas present for you amazing people for reading the story and leaving me all these kind words and I hope to god you all like it. I loved writing it, I was laughing and smiling the whole time. Thanks so much for your support, it means the world (no, the galaxy) to me.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING ONE!

A

* * *

"If you eat the gingerbread, Pietro, I swear to God..." Anastasia scolded Pietro who had been just about to reach for the gingerbread squares that were going to make the gingerbread house that was a big Christmas tradition in the Barton – Romanoff house.

"I vas not. Vhat do ve need all this candy for?"

"Decoration."

"You're going to build a house… Out of this, the gingerbread.. How vill you hold this together?" Pietro asked, brow raised.

Anastasia turned with her finger out, about to lick icing she was making from scratch, from her aunt Laura's recipe, instead, Pietro's nose got the brunt of the icing because he was standing right behind her, bent slightly, peering at the gingerbread batter bowl longingly.

"With what just went onto your nose." Anastasia managed to say the words through her laughter. Pietro was making screwy faces as he tried to lick the buttercream frosting off and Anastasia reached up, trailed her finger over the bridge of his nose.

"Still tastes decent. Being on a grump didn't affect the taste, apparently." Anastasia mused as she slid her finger into her mouth… Well, she tried to, but Pietro took hold of her hand carefully and quickly and licked the icing off.

Anastasia blushed all over and coughed a little.

"Not bad."

"The hell do you mean not bad, Maximoff? My mother and aunt practically invented this way of making 's amazing." Anastasia groaned as she licked more frosting off of her finger.

The sound of her groaning like that did things to Pietro, but he reminded himself that she needed time. She'd suffered a lot recently.

"Did you talk to Wanda earlier? Did she have any clue when they'd all be back? I'm getting really worried… It's been almost two weeks." Anastasia asked hopefully, staring up at Pietro, getting lost in the blue of his eyes.

It was really easy to do that, just get lost in the blue of his eyes like she was adrift at sea or something.

His eyes were fixed intently on her and that's probably how she didn't see him sneaking batter from the gingerbread batter bowl.

He licked his finger off quickly, laughing and smirking, groaning as the taste of the batter hit his tongue and slid down his throat.

"Hey! Stop eating the damn walls of our house, Maximoff."

 _'Our house, huh?'_ he thought to himself. Before he knew it, his mind was conjuring up this whole scenario.. He dared not get his hopes up of it happening, her parents probably both hated him now, because he'd been the one who was supposed to be 'watching' her when she'd been kidnapped earlier in the month, but…

It was a dream he had often, or at least he'd had it often since he'd come to grips with how he truly felt about the slip of a platinum blonde standing almost chest to chest with him in the middle of the kitchen, flour on the bridge of a freckled nose.

"You have flour on your nose." Pietro muttered, his eyes locked on her intently as he thought about his 'dreams' and his 'wishful thinking' as of late… A farmhouse much like this one… Nights like this, enough little ones to create a super speed army… Would they have family food fights?

Yes, they probably would, he thought to himself. The thought made him smile and Anastasia smiled a little when she saw the smile. He really didn't smile often… Or he hadn't since she'd met him a few weeks before now.

And he always seemed distant and grumpy, truth be told. Like he disliked her strongly.

It was the biggest reason she never actually tried to show him how she felt. How she was starting to fall for him. How having him here with her right now instead of the usual, her being alone or at her aunt Laura's place just a few miles away…

It felt… She felt secure and safe. This felt like something she wouldn't mind getting used to at all.

She'd surprised herself the night before, this strange dream she'd had… And the way they stood right now in her mom and dad's kitchen, it made her think about the dream.

In it, she'd been holding a little pig tailed curly haired blonde with her father's bright ocean blue eyes and letting her play in the batter. Three little boys raced around the kitchen playing with nerf guns, Pietro was right in the middle of it.

Everything about the dream had been enticing enough that she hadn't wanted to wake up this morning, and she'd slept in until at least 11 just to finish it.

But things like that, a guy like him… They didn't happen to normal and ordinary girls like her… Broken girls like her usually attracted the worst in the male species.

"Are you alright, Ana?"

"I… Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About vhat?"

"Nothing, Pietro, it's stupid… Let's get the rest of these gingerbread walls into the oven, okay?" Anastasia made herself stop replaying the dream in her head. That's all it was and would ever be was a dream.

She'd had enough bad luck to know that dreams rarely came true.

And if she were going to fall again, put her heart on the line again, she wasn't settling for anything less than exactly what she wanted.

"Yeah."

She turned with the square molds in her hands and she bumped into Pietro who steadied her quickly, chuckling at the batter that splashed up onto the white t shirt he was wearing. "Shit. I'm sorry." Anastasia apologized as Pietro shook his head and chuckling, he slid the t shirt off, flinging it at the dirty clothes pile in the laundry room.

"I vill vash it later."

"Yeah, but.. I'm a klutz." Anastasia shrugged a little.

"You vere just distracted.." Pietro mused, giving her a cocky look. She was distracted now, those deep green eyes of hers were roaming, she was too distracted apparently to try and hide it.

"I was not!"

"You vere."

"Was not."

"Vhatever you say, Ana."

She got that shiver down her spine when he said her name like that. Normally, only family or really close friends called her Ana. Pietro had done it quite a few times lately and she'd been too affected by him doing it, the look in his eyes when he did it to tell him that her name was Anastasia and not Ana.

"So… While that's baking… We can go and decorate the tree? That way when Mom and Dad and Wanda get back here, it's done."

It was something to focus on, to take her mind off of everything she'd been through, her parents being gone so close to the holidays and her growing feelings for Pietro.

"Or… ve can go outside. It is snowing."

"Yeah, I'm kinda like a cat in that I hate getting..." The words froze on her lips as Pietro picked her up and ran warp speed out the back door with her, the two of them tumbling into the snow, Anastasia shrieking a little and laughing, shoving snow down the sweats Pietro was wearing.

"That vas not fair."

"Yeah, well, I didn't wanna come out and get wet and cold either, so.."

–

* * *

"They literally just left this location. How the hell do they keep dodging us?" Natasha shouted in anger as she and Clint and Wanda and the rest of the team stood in the middle of what remained of a speedily abandoned Hydra compound.

"That son of a bitch… All of them are dead when we finally get our hands on them." Clint swore.

Steve nodded in agreement and Tony looked at one of the blackboards on the wall of the partially burned lab.

"They were working on something… Wonder what it was."

"That doesn't look like..."

"This little son of a bitch is STILL having her watched, Nat. Tell me we get to kill the little bastard when we finally find all the assholes behind all this?" Clint held up a picture of Anastasia and Pietro at the grocery store in their hometown.

"I know he doesn't have his arm around my daughter."

"It is in a friendly vay." Wanda stated as she looked at the pictures, not saying what she really knew about Pietro's feelings for Anastasia. Now was not the time.

Not when they needed to focus on finishing what they'd all started months before.

"Hey… Are we sure the tesserect is gone?" Bruce asked from a corner.

"Why?"

"Oh, no reason.. Just they happen to have a notebook full of information on it."

"Son of a bitch.. So did they grab Anastasia because she was connected to you two… Or was it personal in her case?"

"Even I'm confused right now." Tony admitted as the team made their way out of the partially burned out compound and on to their next possible location.

"He better not be trying to use this time alone with our kid to get in her panties or I swear to God.."

"Clint..."

"Nat..."

"She's 19.. She's not a baby anymore." Tony pointed out, earning him a glare from both parents. "We should tell Fury about the pictures… Get him to send agents over to check on them for a while."

"Yeah. I'd feel one hell of a lot better… Knowing she's still being watched doesn't exactly give me comfort."

"Me either, babe." Clint's lips found Natasha's forehead and he held her against him. "We're gonna put an end to all of this."

"Damn right we are."


	12. Ice Skating

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys!Twelve reviews and 16/6 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my holidays, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often. So, I decided to go ahead and post another chapter for you guys and...

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING! Special shoutouts go to Kitkat and my guest reviewers and Calliope's Scribe, as well as Tiger Pansy, all of whom have encouraged me this far in the story! I'm so thrilled you all seem to like it! I'm trying to have things be a little different than other stories. They're all better than mine but I had to write this, I ship Clintasha hella hard. They just made more sense, ya know?

More flirting and friendly fluff between Pietro and Anastasia. This time it is ice skating and a bit more about Anastasia as a person is revealed through several friends of hers from high school. Pietro meets the friends, guys, omg. Also, he meets another ex, Dallas. Yes, I know, I know.. But Dallas is not nearly as bad as Davey. He was just one of quite a few jerks. Hopefully you guys like this so far?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING ONE!

A

* * *

The lights around the posts marking the ice skating rink twinkled and Anastasia tapped her skate impatiently as she waited on Pietro to lace up his skates. He'd been more than a little apprehensive about coming skating tonight, but Anastasia begged -and gave him those irresistable big eyes that she did when she begged for things- and finally, Pietro relented.

A group made their way over and the red head squealed as she and Anastasia hugged.

"I haven't seen you in forever, oh my god! Who is he?"

"This is Pietro Maximoff… He's my… He's my friend." Anastasia answered quickly, but her friend caught the longing look Anastasia gave Pietro when Pietro was still swearing about ice skating and how he wasn't sure he wanted to try it.

"But you want to have more."

"Gina, don't… After the whole thing with Davey, I'm just… I'm not me anymore."

"Yeah, well… You were smiling and laughing before we all walked over. You looked like you with him. Maybe that's a sign. Besides, Davey is the past."

"I went through things with Davey, okay? Things I gotta work out."

"So hurry and work them out."

"You just want to be maid of honor at another wedding." Anastasia teased her friend gently as Gina shrugged and then said casually, "And I know sparks when I see them. Besides, I'll have you know.." she brandished her ring finger and Anastasia gaped at the large diamond ring sitting on it… "He asked you?"

"Last night… At the Yankees game."

"Oh wow."

"Yeah. I was shocked. But I said yes."

Anastasia eyed her friend for a moment and tried to imagine being in her shoes right now, wishing that she was in her shoes right now, that she'd never met Davey and gotten so messed up, that she and Pietro were engaged.

She was blindsided by that when it hit her, she knew she'd fallen for him, but she hadn't realized just how hard she'd managed to fall and how short of a time she'd managed to tall in.

"Ana… Earth to Ana. You're kinda staring at him."

"I was not." Ana stammered, her face turning an almost scarlet.

"So let's get over there to our guys? Jenny and Tommy are on their way. Had to drop Starla off with the sitter."

"I feel so awful, like I have been back for almost two months now and I haven't seen any of you. I didn't even get to come back to see Starla be born.."

"We understand, okay? And you got out of that hell. And maybe a new year incoming means turning over a new leaf? With a certain blonde hunk? Where the hell did you find him, anyway?"

"He kind of works with my parents."

"So he's in government too? Does he wear a military uniform because you're so lucky, that's hot. I love when Andy wears his."

"Seriously, Gina… You're something else." Anastasia blushed again and laughed a little, shaking her head as she watched Pietro talking to Gina's fiancee Andy.

"So you have known Ana for a vhile, yes?" Pietro asked the guy standing with him during a lull in their conversation. Andy chuckled and then nodded and explained, "Me and Anastasia and Gina and Jenny and her guy Tommy.. We were the original Breakfast Club… Met in a Saturday detention."

"Detention, vhat is vat?"

"Detention is when you gotta go to school on a weekend because you did some kind of dumb shit." Andy explained with a laugh as Pietro asked, "Vhat did Ana do?"

"She set all the frogs in the bio lab free because she couldn't stand the thought of them being dissected the next day."

Pietro watched Anastasia skating around on the ice, a smile crept onto his face as he did so. Andy chuckled and then said casually, "Between you and me and the fence posts, man… I like you. Lots better than that Davey asshole that she bought home with her that last visit. And it bought my best friend back, meeting you, so I ain't complaining..."

Pietro pointed to himself, not sure whether to correct the guy standing to his left or not. He said quickly, "Ana and I are just friends."

"You want more though."

"I never said vat."

"You don't have to, man. Kinda written all over your face. Ana's a good girl… Good girls don't really stay single long, buddy. Might wanna give that some thought."

"She's been through things."

"And you help her work through them… I'm not saying rush out and ask her to marry you… Saying that keeping yourself involved in her life to some degree is not a bad idea though, especially if Dallas O'Malley starts comin around again. Because Dallas is a prick, he's a real piece of work.. Another of Ana's little mistakes that Gina and I hated."

"Vhat did he do?"

"What didn't he try to do is the question. I beat the guys ass once." Andy explained with a shrug as Pietro studied him and then asked, "Okay, so vhat didn't he do?"

"The guy cheated on her, lied to her, played mind games with her… He'd always manage to apologize and convince her that it was a 'mistake'. We were thrilled when she said she was done with Dallas. But he's back and she's back, so..."

Pietro growled a little and Andy chuckled and reminded him, "You don't like her like that… Remember?"

"So maybe I lied." Pietro muttered darkly. Suddenly, Anastasia being the way she was, wary and mostly distant towards everyone… It made sense.

She'd trusted too much before, obviously, and after countless times of being proven just how crappy people could be, she stopped being such an innocent, she shut down that part of herself. She stopped being the outgoing and happy and caring person that Andy had been telling Pietro stories about while the girls skated around.

"And speak of the fucking devil… You go out there with Ana. If Dallas sees her alone, he'll go over. I'm going to find my girl."

Pietro stepped onto the ice and after a few awkward seconds, he got the hang of ice skating and he managed to stop Anastasia as she sped past, pulling her against him in a friendly way.

"You're skating finally?"

"Yes." Pietro smirked and shrugged as he nodded to the skates and admitted, "It's not so bad. We have to get Vanda to come vith us next time."

"That would be great!" Anastasia's smile at the suggestion lit up her eyes and made them dance. Pietro nodded and then he realized Anastasia was watching another part of the ice. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Who?"

"An ex… He's a prick."

Pietro followed her eyes with his own and when Anastasia wasn't looking, he gave Dallas a covert warning glare, shifting Anastasia closer to him when the person playing music to ice skate to started to play a slower rock song.

Anastasia looked up at Pietro when he was eying the crowd critically, almost as if he were still bodyguarding her. She shook her head and smiled a little to herself. He put his arms around her and then suggested, "Maybe it vould be better if you skated in front of me, facing me… So if I do bust my ass, you do not get hurt."

 _'No, I'd just land on top of you… Which I wouldn't mind, but that would be a little awkward?'_ Anastasia thought to herself as she nodded and they turned so that Anastasia was skating how Pietro suggested. They skated right past Dallas and he called her name.

"Shit."

"Let me handle vhis."

"And how exactly, are you going to do that?"

Pietro smirked and turned when they'd stopped moving and asked casually, "Is vere some reason you are trying to talk to my girlfriend?" with that cocky grin he was notorious for, the one he often wore when he knew he was about to do a bad or a stupid thing.

Anastasia blushed a little, but shifted closer to Pietro, playing along.

"You're with this guy?"

"Yes, Dallas. I am with this guy."

"Looks like a douche to me."

Pietro growled and started towards Dallas as his hairtrigger temper took hold of him. Ana caught him and then glaring at Dallas she said with a calm smirk, "He's totally not worth the zero seconds it would take to put him on his ass, Piet… Let's go get some hot chocolate… Please, baby?" as she held onto Pietro's shirt.

Pietro thought to himself, _'If vhis were real I vould not complain.'_ as he nodded and lead them over to a growing line for hot chocolate. Andy gave him a thumbs up when the girls were talking again and Pietro smirked, slipping his arm around Anastasia's waist, casually resting his chin on her shoulder while he listened to her talking to her friend.

"We should all go to that fireworks thing next week!"

"That's actually not a bad idea." Anastasia smiled as Pietro raised a brow and Anastasia said "At the lake.. They have fireworks and a parade on boats on Christmas Eve… It'll be fun."

"If you vant to."

"Do you want to?"

"Yes."

"Cool."

–

* * *

Another near miss for the team. This time, afterward, Natasha called Anastasia to check in on her, she missed her more than ever.

She'd barely gotten to stay after they'd gotten Anastasia out of danger.

"Tell her no Pietro!" Clint hissed as Natasha waved him off and waited on the phone to be picked up. When it was, Natasha smiled and put the phone on speaker.

"What have you been up to, little spider?"

"I actually did what you guys suggested… I went to see some of my friends earlier."

"Pietro went too, right? Because if he's not watching you, I swear to God I'll..."

"Mooom… He went. He hasn't left me alone a single second… I mean I'm lucky I get to pee. You guys didn't have to do that. It put him in danger too… It put all of you in danger and I wish I hadn't been so..."

"You were not stupid, little spider."

"Your mom is right. You thought the guy was good. It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, well, Dad, maybe I shouldn't trust my gut. Because all the other mistakes?" Anastasia sighed as she unwrapped her hair from a towel and shook it out.

Clint heard INXS playing and laughed as he asked, "How has everything been going?"

"The house is decorated."

"No wild parties then, huh?"

"Nope. If we had one of those we'd go out to Mary's parents cabin."

"Yeah, how about no.. Last time I had to come and get you at midnight."

"And I got grounded for three weeks. Yes, daddy, I have not forgotten." Anastasia laughed as she asked, "How much longer? You guys always come back for Christmas and… I'm worried. Pietro is worried about Wanda too."

"We'll be home for Christmas." Natasha promised her daughter as Anastasia said quietly, "You guys better or I'll kick Fury in the balls myself."

"What we're doing has to be done, kiddo."

"I know, I know… But Christmas is kind of our thing. It's weird, you guys aren't here arguing over who knocked over the snowman or whether we're going to have fudge or not."

"We miss you too, little spider."

"And we love you, baby bird. You're okay, right? Nothing weird?"

"Nothing. Thankfully, daddy, my life is boring again."

"Thank God."

They hung up and Clint said quietly, "So the guy's gotten better at having her watched."

"That does not give me confidence, Hawk."

"Yeah, well, spider… It doesn't make me feel the greatest either… I just want to know if this is just a crazy boyfriend or if this is bigger than that."

"Me too."

"Maximoff better not get too cozy."

"He's not a bad kid… But I'm still fu rious at him for her being kidnapped… But it's better him than someone else..."

"Nope, she's not 80. Father daughter rules strictly say no falling in love until daughter is 80."

"I know… And you're right… But if we push then what happened with that Dallas kid will happen all over again."

"Don't even remind me about that."


	13. Close Calls

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys!Fifteen reviews and 18/7 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my holidays, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING! Special shoutouts go to Kitkat and my guest reviewers and Calliope's Scribe, as well as Tiger Pansy, all of whom have encouraged me this far in the story! I'm so thrilled you all seem to like it! I'm trying to have things be a little different than other stories. They're all better than mine but I had to write this, I ship Clintasha hella hard. They just made more sense, ya know?

Okay, so another close call in this chapter... It's leading up to something I swear to God. Also more fluff and interaction with Clint and Natasha. Pretty soon more Avengers and they will be back from their mission. I just kind of wanted to focus on Pietro and Anastasia's thing at the moment. Fluff is fun to write, so there is some of that in this chapter too. Hope you guys like it!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

A

* * *

She heard a sound that wasn't like all the other usual night time sounds that echoed through the Barton farm house. And as soon as she heard it, she sat up in bed, her throat began to close up as her heart raced a thousand miles a second.

She'd just grabbed her baseball bat and started towards her bedroom door when the door that lead into the bathroom separating her room from the one Pietro was currently sleeping in opened quickly and carefully.

"Did you hear vat?" Pietro asked as he appeared beside her, looking at her in concern. Anastasia could only nod and Pietro held his finger to her plump and soft lips as he said quietly, "Do not make a sound, Ana. I vill go down."

"Pietro.."

"I have gun. Agent Carter left one vith me vhen she came to do a perimeter check vhile you vere at vork earlier." Pietro explained as he gave Anastasia a firm look. Anastasia nodded, her eyes were widened in fear. The sounds were getting a little louder, it almost sounded like someone was moving around the house downstairs.

Pietro just kept thinking about what Maria Hill confided in him when she and Sharon had come by earlier to make sure nothing out of the ordinary had happened… That Anastasia was still being watched, that she wasn't out of danger yet. That the team couldn't seem to catch anybody that remained of those responsible for kidnapping Anastasia almost three weeks before.

He couldn't think about something happening to her. He refused to think about something happening to her.

"Stay."

"Pietro… It's just you. It sounds like at least three people downstairs moving around right now." Anastasia bit her lower lip, eying him in fear and concern. If he went down there and something happened to him…

She wasn't going to think about it.

"How about we both hide?"

"Hiding vill not stop vem."

"Pietro, I'm kind of freaking out right now, okay? Because Tony Stark designed our security system for the house himself… And if someone got past it..." Anastasia pleaded, grumbling to herself when Pietro shook his head and went back into his room, coming out with a handgun which he tucked into the back of a pair of sweats.

She stopped him before he stepped out onto the landing of the stairwell. "Wait."

"Stay here."

"You are not going down there alone, Pietro. Besides, if it's just your garden variety smarter than your average thieves, two will scare them faster than one." Anastasia hissed frantically. Pietro wasn't hearing it, he shook his head.

"Damn it, Pietro, don't be stubborn."

"Anastasia… Ve don't have time to argue." Pietro took a few deep breaths and stepped out onto the stairwell.

He sped down the stairs and within literal seconds, he stood in front of the two men wearing ski masks.

"Vhat are you doing?"

"The boss sent us to get something."

"A bullet maybe?" Pietro quipped as he slid the gun out of his waistband, clicked it off safety and raised it. The two men shared a look and then burst into laughter.

"He thinks he's somethin, huh?"

"He does."

"Kid, don't even. Just hand over the fuckin girl."

"Not going to happen." Pietro said through a tightly clenched jaw as he glared down the two men. They moved forward, he lunged and the fight broke out, spilled out onto the front porch of the Barton farm house.

Anastasia groaned inwardly and stood on very shaky legs. She didn't think, she just ran up the hall and into the room at the end. Growing up with a pair of super assassins as parents, you learn how to fight and fend and survive.

She knew the combination to her mom's gun safe like the back of her hand and she keyed in the code… But then her father's much quieter spare crossbow caught her eye.

She grabbed a gun and the crossbow and went to the bedroom window, easing it open. She propped the gun up and peered through the scope.

The first shot whizzed past one of the men just as he was about to hit Pietro with the pistol in his hands and it distracted the s econd guy sufficiently enough that Pietro had time to grab the gun he'd had knocked out of his hands during the brawl and take control of the situation again. He got hold of one guy and headbutted the other one when he lunged to try and knock Pietro away from his partner.

The bullet whizzed past the whole thing and Pietro looked up at the window that the shot came from and shook his head just as Agent Maria Hill's SUV swerved into the driveway and spun to a stop a few short feet away.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Ve are fine."

"We didn't even realize these assholes tripped the alarm until the backup security protocol that Stark put up went haywire. We think someone hacked into the main security system and disabled it, we're trying to ping the signal of who might have done it now. I'll call you as soon as I know anything." Maria kicked at one of the fallen men and held her gun at him while another of the agents, a rookie, bent and cuffed the man's hands tightly together.

"Good work, Agent Maximoff. If you keep up work this solid you'll be in the field in no time."

Maria shoved the men into the back of the SUV and Pietro walked quickly back into the house, calling her name up the stairs.

"Up here."

"Vhat the hell vas vat?" Pietro leaned in the doorway as Anastasia put away the gun and the crossbow and turned to face him, eying her intently. They migrated close together just like they always seemed to lately.

"That was me doing something, okay? There were two of them out there with one of you. I don't care how fast you are, Pietro..."

He eyed her and she went silent, shuffling her feet awkwardly. "What?"

"She does care."

"I never said I didn't, okay?" Anastasia blurted out, her cheeks darkening at the words.

The phone rang downstairs and she ran down to answer it, grateful for the distraction.

"Mom?"

"Is everything okay? I just got a call from Maria. We'll be home as soon as we can, little spider. Pietro kept you safe, right? If he slacked off and something had happened to you, I swear..." Natasha blurted in a rush.

"He did, actually."

"So what happened?"

"Just two guys broke in here. But thanks to Mr. Stark's security program, when they hacked in, it automatically alerted the compound. Agent Hill just left." Anastasia said as she caught her breath and worked on calming herself down. Her adrenaline was still kicked in.

"You're okay, right?"

"Pietro made me hide. I fired one of the guns."

"You what?"

"It was two on one, okay? It wasn't a fair fight and Pietro all but locked me in my room before he went down to handle things. I'm not just going to stand back and watch someone get hurt because I got involved with an asshole."

Natasha eyed the phone with a raised brow but kept her own thoughts to herself. She wasn't sure how she'd feel if she discovered Anastasia had feelings for Pietro Maximoff. She still wasn't past what he'd done, how Ana had been taken almost a month ago.

"Let me talk, Nat." Clint took the phone and talked to Anastasia, calming her down. "But you're okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Dad… Pietro all but locked me in my room when he went down to play Rambo, the idiot."

"That's good. I told him he'd better protect you. How are things other than tonight?"

"Going okay. I mean I still see all the things Davey made me believe really happened to all of you… But I'm glad to be away from the situation and alive… Are you guys coming home?"

"As soon as we can, baby bird. Mom wants to say goodnight."

Natasha took the phone from Clint and the two spoke back and forth in Russian for a few minutes, Natasha asked if Anastasia felt anything for Pietro and warned her to be careful, to be on her toes, that she was being watched.

"I will, Mom. Promise. I love you guys."

"We love you too, little spider."

"Baby bird, Nat."

"Little spider, Clint."

"Hey, hey… How about Spider bird?" Anastasia cut in, smiling a little, leaning in the doorway, twisting her finger in her hair as she laughed a little and held the phone away from her ear.

"We think you two would be better off if you went to stay on your aunt Laura's farm a while… Just until we get back."

"Mom, Dad… We're fine. We have everything under control."

"But tonight was too close a call for our comfort."

"We're fine, really."

"Uh uh… We're going to get Agent Hill to send someone by more often. That scared the living hell out of us." both Natasha and Clint said at almost the same time.

"Okay, fine."


	14. Fireworks

NOTES:

Thanks so much for all the love, guys!Eighteen reviews and 20/9 follows and faves. I want to cry so much right now, you guys made my New Years -hell, my life-, you really have. I want to thank each and every single one of you for your support and encouraging words. I love getting reviews and favorites and follows, when you take the time to review it just... It makes me want to update even more often.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND YOU ARE AMAZING! Special shoutouts go to Kitkat and my guest reviewers and Calliope's Scribe, as well as Tiger Pansy, all of whom have encouraged me this far in the story! I'm so thrilled you all seem to like it! I'm trying to have things be a little different than other stories. They're all better than mine but I had to write this, I ship Clintasha hella hard. They just made more sense, ya know?

And this is kind of sexy fluff. Or I thought it was. But it's fluffy, it's Pietro being protective too. Also, another appearance from a past mistake on Anastasia's part. Yeah, I know.. But I love drama. And torturing my characters. Slow burn is fun to write... But soon. :P

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU AMAZING PEOPLE!

A

* * *

He hadn't been on board for this for the entire night but rather than tell her why, rather than tell her that she wasn't out of danger yet, that someone out there was still watching her, that Davey hadn't died like they'd thought at first after they'd rescued her almost a month before, Pietro kept it internal.

"If vis is too much, printsessa..." Pietro mumbled as he held her gaze as they got out of her Mustang. He handed over her keys and their hands lingered in each others. Anastasia gave Pietro's larger hand a squeeze and she took a few deep breaths.

She had to start living her life again without fear or worry. If she kept freaking out every single time she went out into larger crowds she'd never leave home again. She'd barely been able to go skating earlier in the week when they'd went.

But she was tr ying, damn it.

Having Pietro there… It made it seem a little easier to try? She felt safe around him.

"I'll be okay."

"But if you vant to leave. All you have to do is tell me."

"Okay, I promise." Anastasia gazed up at him. The wind blew around them and she shivered lightly. His hands went to her arms, rubbing them as he smugly reminded her that he'd told her it was going to be freeezing out tonight that it being warmer than usual for a December day literally meant nothing when it had been earlier.

"Better?" he asked her, standing behind her. His voice was thick and heavy, his breath was warm on her chilled skin. She shivered and bit down on her lower lip because for a split second, his lips accidentally brushed her neck.

"Yeah." Anastasia managed to murmur as this liquid fire took over her blood and coarsed through her veins. Pietro noticed that she was slightly leaning against him and not doing her usual, the awkward standing close but not too close, not as close as he wanted thing and he smiled to himself a little.

As the first of the fireworks lit up the sky and she gasped and jumped a little, their bodies brushing, he stiffened a little because he hadn't been expecting the high voltage electric shock that coarsed through his body on impact.

"Vis it is… Not bad."

"When is something going to be amazing for you, huh?" Anastasia turned slightly, and due to the crowd around them as the fireworks and water parade continued, she was smushed chest to chest with him.

He almost blurted out _this is, printsessa_ but he kept the thought to himself. It was too soon. Saying that would only make things awkward. Saying that would only put pressure on something that was still fragile at best.

So he'd have to wait for now.

He didn't want to, but just this one time he wanted to go slower, enjoy things if they happened. She'd had a lot happen to her, he didn't want to pile anything else on her or force her to feel things she might not feel.

"Keep showing me things and I vill tell you." Pietro mumbled into her ear instead. Anastasia felt the blush as it crept up her body. She realized that they were standing chest to chest still and it kicked in how she wasn't scared or nervous like she'd thought she'd be… Like she wanted to just stand there just like that.

But friends didn't do that kind of thing.

And all she'd ever be to him most likely was friends.

The moment was broken when her friends wandered over about halfway in and they all started to talk a mile a minute. Pietro noticed that another of Anastasia's exs, Dallas, kept lingering and trying to talk to her and that Anastasia seemed really tense around Dallas because she kept edging back and against Pietro as a result.

His arms slid around her and he asked in a whisper, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Just wish Dallas would stop coming on so strong."

"I am right here. Friends, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. And I'm glad. And very thankful for that." Anastasia muttered as her hand went down to where his hand rested at her him and she slid her fingers into the spaces between his and silently thought to herself that _if only I were braver… If only I could just do something so you'd know I want to be more than just your friend…_ but she kept it to herself as usual.

It was too soon still… But at the same time, she just felt like she wanted to do it right then, to pour her heart out.

She'd always fallen a little too hard and a lot too fast. She was always making mistakes. This time she just wanted it to be right. She wanted to fall and know that it wasn't a mistake, that she wasn't going to get hurt again.

Pietro felt the word sticking in his throat. Friends was the closest he could get for now, it was that or nothing. And they had come a long way since that first meeting, when she'd come home from college and he'd been there and they'd had their stand off. He wanted to be more than her friend, he may not have known her long but he knew that much.

He had to be more than her friend.

But he didn't want to be without her so if friendship was all he could have, it was what he'd settle with for now.

Dallas tried to catch her while she was getting them hot chocolate and Pietro made his way over quickly, arms going around her. Anastasia blushed and smiled up at him, held out a cup of hot chocolate with a candy cane sticking out.

"Wanda would kill me, your thing about sugar, but… It's cold. I don't want you freezing." Anastasia muttered as her eyes got sucked into the blue of his eyes. Pietro chuckled and took a sip, wincing at the burn on his tongue.

"It was hot, silly."

"You could have varned me."

"Duh, the name is a warning?"

He chuckled a little, then a little more as Dallas slunk away angrily.

"Vat is his thing?"

"He can't accept that I broke up with him and that we are completely done. He treated me like crap. Stupid me let him." Anastasia admitted as she and Pietro wandered back to the spot Pietro had parked the Mustang.

When she tentatively slid her hand into his, he smiled a little to himself and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah. We can go watch those Christmas movies we rented earlier. I cannot believe you haven't seen The Grinch."

"No tv." Pietro shrugged as he opened her door and let her into the passenger side of the car...


	15. Movie Night

NOTES:

I am in awe right now. I never thought this story would get the attention it has when I started it. To be honest, I was afraid that people were going to hate it. But 20 reviews, 11 faves and 21 follows later, here we are! I love you guys so much and everyone who takes the time to review... you guys mean the world to me, seriously. The encouragement really keeps me going and I needed to hear it. I really don't think I'm that good of a writer. I just pick things / shows / books / movies that I love and I write about them. To know that people actually LIKE reading the results is... It's mind blowing.

Another chapter for you guys! It's a little fluff, a little Clintasha x their daughter phone time and a little suspense / terrorizing my Anastasia because I like suspense and adventure and tormenting characters I make up. But yes, here it is, guys! Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

They'd settled in on the couch, a large bowl of popcorn between them. He tried not to but Pietro couldn't help himself, every chance he got, he was stealing glances at Anastasia as she watched the black and white movie on the television screen in front of them, smiling softly, mouthing the lines to herself under her breath.

"Vhy is it not in color?"

"Because it came out before tv was colorized, Piet. Besides, if It's A Wonderful Life was in color… It wouldn't be the same… It's good this way, it's better." Anastasia explained as she rolled over onto her back and looked up at him. She dipped her hand into the bowl of popcorn and held some out to him. He took it and crunched, mulling over what she said.

Anastasia was suddenly painfully aware of just how close her head was to casually resting on his thigh. She wasn't sure if she should stay lying down or if she should sit up. She didn't want to sit up.

She wanted to stay right where she was.

The phone rang and it interrupted their little moment. Their little moments always seemed to be interrupted. Always. She slid off the couch and said with a raised brow, "Wonder who that is… I mean Mom and Daddy called at least three hours ago.."

Pietro wasn't getting a good feeling, but before he could stop her from actually answering the phone, she'd gotten into the kitchen and heard the very end of the message left on the answering machine.

"I...I thought he was dead. I thought he died in the fire at that compound. How… No, no… He can't still be alive. I was free! I got away from the asshole! I was finally starting to feel safe again." Anastasia muttered to herself as she paced the kitchen, swearing and wiping at her eyes when she thought that nobody saw her. She bit her lower lip and stopped, leaned against the door to the pantry and took a few deep breaths before sliding down to sit on the floor.

She rested her head down on the tops of her knees. Her throat was tight, she couldn't breathe. She felt her stomach churning, suddenly everything she'd eaten earlier was threatening to come back up and it tasted bitter in her mouth.

Pietro sat down beside her.

"Is this what's taking them so long?"

"I am not sure. All I know is vhat Fury tells me."

"And of course, that's probably not much." Anastasia took another series of long and deep breaths, grimacing when they didn't do a thing to help her. She'd honestly been doing great while under the obvious delusion that Davey, the guy who kidnapped her, the guy who broke her in the first place and sent her running back home to her parents… The guy she found out was actually the son of a Hydra scientist and that his real name was Viktor Nikolai Kessler.. he was still alive.

He was still tormenting her, he could reach out at any moment and he could take her again. He could hurt everybody she loved. He could kill them even.

Pietro sort of sat there a moment, at a loss as to what he should do. He leaned her against him finally and put his arm around her shoulders. "It vill be alright. They vill find him. This will end."

"I thought it had already. Damn it, this is all my fault! All of it. If I'd never met the guy and dated him… I caused this. I should be the one going after him, risking my neck. I made the mess." Anastasia grumbled as she wiped at her eye and then took a few more breaths.

He smoothed his hands over her hair and his lips grazed the top of her head. He couldn't think of anything to do or say because truthfully, he'd been left as in the dark as she'd been, they only told him what he needed to know.

A song that his mother used to hum to him and to Wanda after a nightmare when they were smaller came to him and he just sort of started to hum it after pulling her into his lap.

Anastasia flinched a little, but after a few seconds, she felt relaxed. His arms were around her and she leaned against him. "I'm a basketcase. And I'm gullible and weak and.. I just really loathe myself and the shit I get into."

Her eyes met his.

He leaned in just a little, his large and rough hand brushing her bangs back behind her ear so they weren't in her eyes. He shrugged and then mused quietly, "People make mistakes. I made on myself, remember?"

"Yes, but you've seen two of mine. And nothing you did in Sokovia is biting you in the ass now. And you saved lives. So that kind of rules out your mistakes."

"You thought you vere in love.. So that rules out your mistake."

"And now I just… I wonder how I ever could have thought that… I mean with him… Because nothing I felt then..." Anastasia forced herself to be quiet, to not blurt out the rest like she wanted.

It was just the situation at present. It wasn't the best time for her to spill how she thought that maybe, one day, when she was finally okay again, finally herself again, she knew she'd wind up falling in love with Pietro because she might just already be in love with him.

Timing had to be right this time. She'd made too many mistakes before. Mistakes that tore her apart and then broke her.

Mistakes she should have been smart enough not to make.

Pietro coughed and licked his lips. He got this feeling that there was a lot more to what she wasn't letting herself say, but he didn't mention it. If he mentioned it, things would get awkward.

Anastasia leaned forward, closing the gap between them. She wasn't sure why she did it, but she did.

 _Bad idea, very bad idea. You're still too messed up to even….. Do not do this! Abort mission! Back away, get up, leave the room. Walk outside to cool off, Ana._ Her brain was practically screaming the things at her but she didn't move. She was rooted to her spot in his lap.

Their lips brushed.

His tongue slipped past her lips, parting them.

Anastasia's eyes widened and she gasped, but her tongue found his, massaging it. Her hands curled into fists as they gripped at the t shirt he wore. "We shouldn't..."

"I know…" Pietro mumbled against her lips even though he wound up deepening the kiss instead of breaking it.

The kiss finally broke and they sat there, frozen in the moment, Anastasia bit her lower lip as she said quietly, " I wish I could just snap my fingers and be okay again, not be scared to let go and fall again."

"You do not have to rush."

"But I haven't ever felt quite this way before… I mean the mistakes, they were the false alarms, I think… But you… You totally snuck up on me."

His fingertip found her lips and he chuckled as he admitted quietly, "And you did the same. I vill vait…"

"I don't know if I'll ever actually be okay? I don't want to make you wait on me, it's not fair to expect that."

"It is if I vant to. Do you have to be stubborn, Ana?"

"That… It kind of sounded like what my dad says to me all the time. So, umm..."

"Vhat?"

"We're okay?"

"Ve are… Vhen I vant something, I don't change my mind."

Anastasia nodded. Pietro stood, holding her in his arms and they went back into the den. With the whole movie night ruined now, they just sort of lazed around on the couch and about an hour after the call from Davey, the phone rang again.

"I vill get it."

* * *

Pietro left the room to answer the phone. He explained what had just happened to Clint and Natasha and Clint called out to Tony, "Tell Rhodey he was a genius to add that program into the tap on the phone. Ask him if he got a location… Did you keep the guy talking, Pietro?"

"He left a message. Vhen vill I get my hands on him?"

Clint eyed the phone with a raised brow and Natasha took the phone from him and asked for Anastasia.

"You're okay, right?"

"I'm okay. It scared the hell out of me but I'm okay. I have to be."

"Fury is sending a few of us back. Your father and I, sweetie… We can't come with them right away… But we'll be home as soon as we can. In the meantime, Thor and Bruce are going to come back, I think Wanda said she was going to come too."

"Mom… This is all my fault."

"No, baby, this isn't.. This has nothing to do with you, I'm afraid." Natasha sighed as she shook her head and replayed the 'message' they'd found in the last failed attempt at storming a possible location over in her mind.

That man sent his son to find Anastasia on purpose… The kid had been sent to kill her.. The little good left in the kid, however, kept Anastasia alive. But the bad in the kid, the sick parts of the kid… He'd purposely hurt Anastasia, broken her down. It killed Natasha but she comforted herself knowing that when she had this kid and his father in her sights again…

They'd be the ones broken and hurt and dead in the end.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I miss you and Dad."

"I know, baby… But we'll be home. We just… We have to finish this."

Clint took the phone back after he'd finished talking to Tony and asked Anastasia if she was okay. After they talked for a few minutes, he started to hum a song he used to have to hum when she was little and he was on the phone and away on a mission to get her to sleep at night.

"Thanks, Dad."

"Anything for my little bird. No Pietro."

"Daaad."

"No boys until you're 80."

"I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, little bird. G'night. We will be home soon."

"Just hurry, please?"


	16. I Love Him

NOTES:

I am in awe right now. I never thought this story would get the attention it has when I started it. To be honest, I was afraid that people were going to hate it. But 22 reviews,13 faves and 26 follows later, here we are! I love you guys so much and everyone who takes the time to review... you guys mean the world to me, seriously. The encouragement really keeps me going and I needed to hear it. I really don't think I'm that good of a writer. I just pick things / shows / books / movies that I love and I write about them. To know that people actually LIKE reading the results is... It's mind blowing.

Another chapter for you guys! It's a little fluff and Wanda is in here. I think I might do a group date chapter soon, what do you guys think? This is Wanda getting to the farmhouse. So more Avengers will start popping up here and there. :)

* * *

The door banged shut and Wanda stepped into the Barton farmhouse. "Pietro? Anastasia?" she called out as she took off her jacket and the scarf she wore, hung them up on the hanging hook next to the door. She stepped out of her boots and called out their names again, concerned.

When she got to the living room, she quickly discovered why neither of them had answered. They were asleep on the large couch in front of the fireplace, a tangle of arms and legs with a throw blanket over them, the throw blanket was barely hanging on. She raised a brow but when her twin brother started to snore loudly, she snickered to herself quietly.

Remembering that Bruce and Thor were outside, waiting to make sure that Anastasia and Pietro were both safely inside the fa rmhouse so that they could go to the compound until it was time for them to come around and check in, she made her way back to the door and smiled as she gave Thor and Bruce a thumbs up.

" They are alright."

"We'll be back in a few hours. Thor will come first and then I'll come. I'm going to work on deciphering that code that we found in that last location… Maybe it's a clue to why this jerk and his son are so fixated on Clint and Natasha that the guy got his kid to pretend to like Ana."

"Are you sure that Daughter of Hawk and Widow is alright? Perhaps I should stay, Daughter of Maximoff." Thor inquired. Wanda remembered Clint saying that he wasn't sure Pietro and Anastasia getting close was a good idea, so she shook her head and then explained calmly, "Ve vill be fine. You go to Jane and visit vith her."

Thor smiled at the mention of his lovers name and he said with a nod, "If you need me, Daughter of Maximoff." and he held up the Shield issued cell phone that looked almost miniscule in rather large and manly hands.

Wanda smiled and again, she gave the thumbs up. The SUV started to drive away and she shut the door behind her, made her way into the living room again and she turned on the television…. Only after she'd touched both of them carefully just to satisfy her own curiousity and wariness.

She smiled to herself when she saw the replay of the kiss. She lingered her hand over her brother for a few seconds more and planted the idea into his head about letting his guard down, letting himself fall, that she knew now that he really did love Anastasia, that this wasn't like all those times in Sokovia that he said he loved a girl but he'd get bored quickly and move on because they'd argued about how he might feel about Anastasia before she left with the team on the current mission.

She'd been concerned then because she knew that Anastasia had a lot going on within herself and that Pietro just using her as a conquest would hurt her the most she'd ever been hurt. Because of course, when she thought that Pietro might like Anastasia a little, she'd taken a few peeks into Anastasia's head.

She looked at Anastasia who was curled up tightly against Pietro, her head on his bicep and she lingered her hand over Anastasia also, tucking hair back out of her face to do what she did. For Anastasia she gave the affirmation that her feelings were okay and valid and that she should be able to admit them, that Pietro wasn't like others.

She knew meddling was a bit of a bad idea, but her brother stood to be hurt if things went badly between himself and Anastasia. She didn't want her brother hurt above any thing else because she loved him very much.

When the television came on both of them shot up on the couch, Pietro went for a baseball bat but lowered it and relaxed when he saw his twin sister standing there. He pulled her into a hug and the two started to talk in Sokovian and Anastasia asked "Are you hungry, Wanda? Pietro?"

"Vhen is my brother not hungry, Ana."

"I do not alvays eat." Pietro defended himself even as he shoveled in a hand full of potato chips that were left from where they'd been watching movies together the night before.

Anastasia and Wanda shared a look and then a few seconds later, a laugh. Anastasia crawled up onto the counter and opened a cabinet door, holding out a pan to Pietro. "You could have asked me, Ana. I vould have gotten it for you."

"I had it."

The three of them were gathering around chocolate chip pancakes a few minutes later, Anastasia laughing a lot more than she had in a while now at Wanda's telling embarassing things about her twin brother.

"He seriously did that?"

"He did. And it was hilarious." Wanda laughed a little as she looked from Pietro to Anastasia and then asked in a slightly more solemn tone, "So, how are you two going to tell her parents about you?"

They shared a look and Pietro shrugged, Anastasia took a few bites of her pancakes and then said casually, "Just tell them? I mean we're…."

Pietro's hand found her hand and she smiled when he finished, "Ve are kind of together..."

"It's still a little complicated, I mean all the crap that's happened to me, I'm still a little..."

"Afraid?" Wanda guessed as she sipped orange juice and gave an understanding nod.

"Yes. But it has nothing to do with my feelings for Pietro… More to do with me being afraid of what might happen to him because of my current situation with the crazy ex from hell… More of me wanting to make sure I'm past all the bullshit I went through then. I really want things to work out." Anastasia looked up at Pietro as she chewed her food thoughtfully. He smirked a little, a hint of redness on his cheeks as he nodded in agreement and said quietly, "And so do I."

"Vat vere you going to do today?"

"Christmas shopping… I still had a few things I actually had to go and pick up for Lila and Cooper and Little Man. Do you want to go?"

Wanda smiled and nodded as she admitted, " I need to finish getting things too."

"For Vision." Pietro mocked.

He got up to go and use the bathroom and Anastasia stared at him as he walked out of the room which made Wanda laugh softly and Anastasia asked aloud, "I also want to get Piet something..."

"And you vant me to help?"

"Please could you? I really want to get him something special, I mean he's been through a lot because of my parents making him be like a bodyguard to me… And then there's the fact that I really love him."

The words shocked her as they slipped easily past her lips. Wanda stared at her a moment and Anastasia shoveled in the remainder of her pancakes. "You love him?"

"I do. Even when he's being stubborn."

"But you're afraid to tell him just yet." Wanda pretended to guess. She'd found out this much earlier, glimpsing into both their minds. She knew that Pietro felt the same.

She was happy for her brother.

"Exactly. I know it's soon. I want to wait a little longer… I mean I know it already, but the timing isn't… If I told him now, I'm half afraid I might jinx things."

"I get it." Wanda explained as she smiled at Anastasia and then said with a light laugh, "I vill help you find him something."

"Thank you! And I'll help you find Vision something."

Wanda blushed a little and took a bigger bite of her food but she mumbled thanks.


	17. Christmas Shopping & Thickening Plots

NOTES:

I am in awe right now. I never thought this story would get the attention it has when I started it. To be honest, I was afraid that people were going to hate it. But 23reviews,15 faves and 27 follows later, here we are! **I love you guys so much and everyone who takes the time to review/encourage me**... you guys mean the world to me, seriously. The encouragement really keeps me going and I needed to hear it. I really don't think I'm that good of a writer. I just pick things / shows / books / movies that I love and I write about them. To know that people actually LIKE reading the results is... It's mind blowing.

Okay, so the first part of the chapter was a Clintasha thing... Its' sort of leading to something, but I won't tell you what just yet. You'll see, soon. And the second part is a group da te with Wanda and Vision and PIetro and Anastasia! And it's got plenty of fluff for you, I hope.

* * *

The cold wind whipped around them, Natasha felt his hand slipping over hers. They shared a look and kicked in the door.

Nothing.

The place was abandoned again. Natasha swore in frustration and a television screen roared to life. Clint growled and swore as he saw the image of the man they'd been chasing all over Russia and other parts of Europe.

"Enjoying our little game?"

"Fuck you, prick."

"Ladies don't talk like that, Agent Romanoff… Or should I call you Black Widow?"

"Call yourself dead when I get my hands on you." Natasha answered back as she nodded to the others. Tony stepped forward, but the scientist spoke again.

"If any of you move even an inch..." he shook his finger and pictures of anyone they were close to flashed by in a blur. Tony swore when he saw the picture of Pepper, when he saw a few pictures of this kid he'd encountered a few years ago during a darker part of his life.

The scientist laughed and then explained simply, "This is between the bird and the spider and I. If anyone assists them any further..."

"What do you want?"

"I'll tell you what I want…. But what would the fun in that be?"

"He has to be here somewhere, in this building.. Or close by." Steve mumbled.

"I was just about to suggest that." Tony muttered as he and Steve shared a look and took off in different directions quietly, thinking that their stealth would help out.

They were wrong.

The doors slammed shut and locked.

"I thought I told you..."

"You son of a bitch. If you were really brave..." Hawkeye roared angrily, Natasha adding seconds later, "You'd end this and come out of hiding, you'd stop using everyone we care about to bait us."

"And I will… When I feel like it."

The screen went black then, but only after it showed a few more images, older ones, and an obituary. "Hey get a picture of that, Tony."

"Already did, Capsicle."

"And now what?"

"We try to figure out a way out of this room. Or we blow this entire thing to high heavens and pray to whatever God there might be that the asshole is trapped and dies." Clint muttered.

"I vote plan B."

"I'd vote plan B but if this guy has shown us anything, it's that he already has a plan B to counter ours. He probably live streamed that after setting the tv to play it automatically when we walked in. He could be about halfway across the world right now and we'd never know it." Tony stated as he eyed the wiring leading to the tv they stood in front of.

"The only thing we can do is go back and try to figure out why that obituary and those pictures were important enough to him that he tried to kidnap our daughter."

"So back to New York, huh?"

"Just until we get a game plan. A better one. Because he's been doing recon on all of us, that much is obvious." Steve grumbled as his jaw clenched.

"We never should have…."

"It's a team thing. There was no way we were going to let you two do this by yourself." Steve and Tony butted in, Sam nodding in agreement.

"So let's finish this."

The team made their way out of the building and as they exited, an explosion rocked the silence of the snowy woods the building had been nestled in. They boarded the Quinjet and started to head back to New York.

It would be good to be home for a little bit.

It would be even better, though, if everything about this was behind them already.

"I want to go by the compound before we go home." Natasha spoke up as she turned away from the window and turned to look at the rest of the team still with them.

"What's up?" Tony asked as Clint eyed Natasha and asked, "What is it?"

"The name on that obituary… It sounded really familiar for some reason."

"You don't think..."

"I'm not sure what to think, Clint… I mean I don't know for sure, but I just have this feeling… This is a revenge thing to the guy."

"Against the Avengers?"

"Two of us, yes."

"Three if you count Fury, he was the one who signed off on that order… If you're thinking the same one I'm thinking… But if they are who you think they a re, Nat… He should be dead right now."

"yes, well he's obviously not, Clint."

"Then who was in that car?"

* * *

Vision snuck up on Wanda and Wanda blushed at least thirty shades of red all over before hugging him. "You are back."

"The others are on their way back. They hit another dead end. I got in just an hour ago. What on earth are you all doing?" Vision chuckled as he looked from Wanda to Anastasia to Pietro. Wanda and Anastasia were trying on tobboggans with eyes and ears and Pietro was almost about to double over in laughter.

"We're trying to find Wanda a hat for the winter."

"I like vis one. It's a cat."

"If you get the cat, Wanda, I will get the fox!" Anastasia giggled as she took a bite from a large cookie and held it out to Pietro.

"No! Sugar..." Wanda tried to warn but it was too late. Pietro smirked a little and held Ana's gaze intently as he put his hand over her hand and pulled the cookie sandwich to his mouth. He grumbled when the bells over the door of this little shop jingled and in walked Dallas, another of Anastasia's exes, one who'd began trying to pursue her again.

It really pissed him off.

And it really sort of scared her a little, Pietro could tell with each time she'd smoosh her much smaller body against his like she was doing right now.

"Who is he?"

"Someone who vill vind up getting his ass kicked, sister."

"My ex, Dallas. He wasn't quite the piece of work that Davey, Viktor I mean… He wasn't the same as Viktor but he wasn't that different, either." Anastasia explained as she leaned against Pietro and put her hands on his face to make him look at her, to stop watching the other guy like a hawk.

"See? He's even got a date with him. Not a threat, Piet. Not even." Anastasia mumbled softly as Pietro pulled her against him and smirked a little while stealing another bite of the cookie in her hands.

"What was Wanda saying about you and sugar though?"

"She thinks I v ill get hyper again. I vill not."

"Oh boy… And you're already fidgeting."

"I am not, Ana."

"You are, Piet."

"You are fidgeting just a little, Pietro." Vision stated as he held Wanda's hand.

"I am not!"

"He is."

The group walked out of the store and made their way down to the next ones. Wanda and Anastasia were looking at books in a corner when Pietro spotted the necklace. Normally, he'd have just used his speed and stolen it for her, but all of the lectures he'd gotten since he joined the Avengers kind of reiterated in his mind and instead, he grabbed for the wad of cash in his pockets.

"That silver necklace. Vith the moon."

He glanced around the store to make sure Anastasia didn't see him at the counter. After he'd gotten the little wrapped box, he picked out bracelets for his sister, with stones in them, she loved costume jewelry, she always had.

In the back of the store, Anastasia was trying to figure out the best thing to get Pietro. "Getting him a jacket is practical but it's not personal… I know girls who get their best guy friends clothes."

Wanda thumbed through the racks and then suggested, "You vant it to be personal, right?"

"Mhmm.."

The idea hit them both at the same time, Wanda knew it when Anastasia thought about it, not only by the fact that she saw it as it came to her but because when it did, her eyes lit up.

"Christmas Eve double date… Maybe we throw together a candle lit meal for them and deck out the treehouse… Meanwhile, I got an idea for something else..." Anastasia spotted the dog tags in the jewelry display case.

"Do you guys engrave things on these still? I got some for my mom and dad about two years ago..."

"You're Clint's little girl. I almost didn't recognize you, Ana. What do you want on them?"

Ana w rote what she wanted inscribed on the dog tags and passed it to the woman behind the counter. The woman smiled and asked, "Who is the boy?"

Anastasia nodded her head in Pietro's direction and the woman gave a knowing grin because she'd just finished wrapping a gift box for Anastasia.

When the box came back wrapped and ready, Anastasia and Wanda made their way over to Vision and Pietro, quietly making plans for the other part of their surprises for the two.

"Vhat are you two smiling about?" Pietro asked as he slid his arm around Anastasia and tried to peer into her shopping bags.

"Not a thing." Anastasia smiled as she zipped her lips.

"Both of you vill find out soon enough." Wanda assured Vision as they slipped their hands together and all of them walked out of the store together, heading to Anastasia's car to go back to the farmhouse.


	18. From A Spark To A Flame I

NOTES:

I am sorry I haven't updated in a few days, I've been really, really sick. It was horrible, guys. But I'm feeling better now and I was beyond amazed when I actually got to log on here long enough to find out that I had more reviews! Thank you guys so much and a special shoutout to my newest reviewer RangerHorseTug, I'm so glad you thought it was cuteness overload! And I love you for reviewing, as well as everyone else who has, my anon reviewer KitKat, I really hope you like this chapter, it gets kinda hot... Anyway, to everyoen who has left me a review or added this story to their favorite list and had it added to their alerts, I LOVE YOU ALL. I cannot believe this story has gotten 20 favorites and 35 follows and 25 reviews but it has and it's totally you guys making it happen! You guys inspire me, you have no idea how much everything means to me!

Keep being amazing, oh my god.

Oh and there's a little bit of hotness / making out in this chapter. I might make a part two to it, where they're still babysitting the kiddehs, some sort of instrospection inot just how serious they both want to be with each other and stuff. I was going to write in more avengers and clintasha, but I wanted to focus on Pietro and Anastasia tonight, I was sort of in the mood to write some hot fluff. So here you guys go for being so amazing, have it. :) More to come, I promise!

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 _His hands slipped down to her hips and stopped as he rested his chin on her shoulder and eyed the simmering pot on the stove. Anastasia shivered as his lips danced slowly down her neck and she bit into her lower lip, groaning quietly._

But then she rolled over and fell right off the bed. And she sat up grumpily, rubbing her eyes, looking at the clock on her nightstand. She'd just fallen asleep finally, and for once she was not having a nightmare.

For once she'd have liked to finish her dream before waking up abruptly. But like every other time she'd start to have an intimate dream about Pietro and try to finish it, it ended suddenly with her waking up before things got really steamy.

"And it's only 12 am." she groaned as she sprang up from the floor, flopping back across her bed. The bathroom door opened and Pietro peeked in before she'd actually covered herself back up in bed.

He licked his lips as his eyes roamed slowly and he stepped into the room, yawning and asking in a voice filled with sleep, "Ana, are you alvright?"

"Just fell off the bed."

Pietro snickered and Anastasia gave him an unamused look as she tugged at the plaid shirt she wore to sleep in trying to make it cover just a little more. He moved closer and Anastasia moved so that he could sit down on the edge of her bed. "Are you sure you are alvright?"

"I'm fine, really."

"You look angry."

"Frustrated, Pietro, trust me, there's a big difference." Anastasia explained as she yawned and leaned forward a little, pulling him into a kiss because she knew she was grumpy and she felt bad for being kind of grumpy with him. All he was doing was checking on her, showing his concern.

It probably wasn't a really good idea, but when he deepened the kiss, she didn't stop him. Until now, they'd kept things relatively uncomplicated, a few kisses here and there, lots of hugging and flirty touches, but no major making out. He wasn't pressuring her and she wasn't trying to rush into things this time around because she knew that she really did love Pietro and that something going wrong with them would probably devastate her.

His hand slid through her hair, freeing it from a messy waterfall braid and he nipped at her lower lip urgently, groaning when her hand slid through his hair and rested on the back of his neck, this only pulled his mouth onto her mouth much deeper.

She gripped his t shirt with her other hand and his hands slid down, rested on her hips after he carefully pulled her into his lap. They both knew that stopping things before they got too far out of hand to be stopped was crucial, but this was a new level of their strange relationship and neither of them were ready to stop things just yet.

Anastasia groaned as Pietro's lips began to make their way down her neck in the exact same way as they had in the dream she'd been having just a few minutes before she'd fallen off her bed and woken up. She sucked in a breath as she felt his teeth gently sinking into her skin, felt him applying pressure to her neck, marking her.

The strange thing about this was that before, when Davey tried this very thing, Anastasia more often than not slammed on the brakes. She didn't want to now. As soon as she realized that, her eyes fluttered open wider and she licked her lips as she leaned in and started to give Pietro an even deeper kiss. He sucked in a breath when he felt like the room was getting hotter, when he knew that this was definitely affecting him in ways that she'd notice sooner rather than later.

"I'm not going to rush you, Ana." he reminded her quietly.

"I know… I just… I don't want to stop everything yet." she mumbled breathlessly as Pietro nipped her lower lip and his hands tentatively trailed just below the hem of the button up plaid shirt she slept in, gripping her thighs. "You are sure?"

"Mhmm." Anastasia answered as she felt him getting hard beneath her. She knew that they'd have to stop soon because she was definitely feeling affected by their little makeout herself, but she just wanted to go a little farther. She sort of wanted to cross this silent boundary they'd had up to this point.

Her lips left his lips and she grazed them slowly down his neck and he sucked in a breath as he pulled her completely against him. He could feel her heart beating erratically, he knew his was too. Her hands slid beneath his t shirt and she slipped it up and over his head and he worked the top three buttons on her shirt apart, groaning and licking his lips as his eyes met hers.

Anastasia licked her lips as her eyes met Pietro's and her fingertips trailed slowly over his chest and then down his abdomen, she felt his muscles tensing and then the tension releasing beneath her fingers and Pietro gently pushed her back onto her bed, leaning over her, they were being careful and quiet and then laughing about it when they realized that Wanda was sleeping over at the Tower with Vision tonight and that Thor had checked in about an hour before and all was well and absolutely no one else was there.

His forehead found hers as he chuckled and rested his index fingertip on her lips and tried to catch his breath. "I could not sleep either." he admitted.

"I heard you moving around in there before I caught my little cat nap." Anastasia admitted as she smiled up at him and asked, "Why not?"

"Someone keeps me avake at night, the vay she is always on my mind." Pietro admitted quietly, leaning down to pull Anastasia into another deep and long lasting kiss that left them both breathless when it broke abruptly because they heard the front door being knocked on downstairs.

Anastasia's cell phone rang and she answered, doing her best not to sound out of breath or like anything out of the ordinary was going on. It was her aunt Laura, Lila was sick and she was heading to the emergency room because she was concerned about Lila's fever. Laura wanted to know if they'd mind babysitting Nathaniel and Cooper while she went because she didn't want to expose any more of them than she had to to the sickness in the ER.

"Not at all, aunt Laura." Anastasia mouthed the situation to Pietro as he sat up and took a few long and slow deep breaths, working on getting himself together again and Anastasia did the same.

"You sound like you've been running." Laura eyed the phone as she knocked on the f ront door of the farmhouse a second time.

"I got in a hurry to find my cell phone. Forgot I left it down the hall in the office." Anastasia lied quickly as she pulled on a pair of leggings and hung up with her aunt, going down to open the door and let Cooper inside and take Nathaniel.

She stopped at the top of the stairs as Pietro stepped out of his room and pressed him against the wall, giving him another deep kiss and he chuckled as he muttered against her lips, "Ve should go downstairs and let them in."

"Sorry… About the interruption..."

"It is alright. It vas still a little soon. Ve both knew it." Pietro stared into her eyes intently as Anastasia nodded in agreement. "Vhen it happens, printsessa… It vill be special." Pietro gave her a cheeky wink and playfully grabbed at her butt as she squeaked and opened the door for her aunt and the boys so that they could come in.

"What's wrong with Lil?"

"A fever and she's complaining with her throat. She threw up before we left our house. I'm just worried it's like what she had last year only a little worse this time. But some kids have gotten a pretty nasty stomach virus lately, so I'm not taking any chances."

"I don't blame you at all." Anastasia said as she took Nathaniel from her aunt and made her promise to call and let them know once Lila had seen a doctor. Laura hugged her niece and then said "Are you two okay out here?"

"We're fine."

"I just remember how much you two were arguing before." Laura eyed her niece and smiled a little to herself as she realized that there were definitely sparks there. She'd been right before. She wondered how her brother was going to take it when he figured it out.

"If you need us, aunt L..."

"I'll call." Laura said as she and Lila headed off to the doctor and Anastasia shut the door, smiling when she saw Pietro already working on trying to get Cooper settled in on the couch and back to sleep. She walked around with Nathaniel and hummed to him as she gave him a bottle and when he was asleep, she mad a pallet on the floor and then said to Pietro in a whisper, "We can watch some tv while we're waiting to hear from my aunt about Lila."

Pietro nodded and smiled as he slid down onto the pallet of couch cushions and blankets and Anastasia found It's A Wonderful Life on television again and snugged herself against him.


End file.
